CONTRACT FOR TOMATO PLANTS. 
What Are They Worth? 
1 am asked to take contract for growing 200,000 tomato 
plants for a factory here. What would it he worth per 
1,000? llow much space would it take, and how long will 
it take to get them ready for the field? I would like to 
hear the various features of the question, discussed. 
Iowa. w. w. p. 
A Pennsylvania Grower's Estimate. 
With reference to cost of growing tomato plants, no 
man can do more than attempt an imperfect approxima¬ 
tion; so many contingencies are likely to arise that no 
two batches of plants were ever put out on my place 
at the same cost. To illustrate, the foreman may be 
called out to look after something else for, say half a 
day; as a consequence there is only about half as much 
work done as usual or a very severe cold spell may 
necessitate a great deal of matting the frames, so that 
from 4 to 5 P. M. a detail of the best hands have to be 
sent out to look after the plants in the frames. IIow 
can a man anticipate the cost of such increased items 
of expense? Again, it frequently happens that there is 
a great deal of wind during the month of March and 
fore part of April, with corresponding evaporation, so 
that we frequently have to put an extra man to hold 
the hose on the plants generally seven days a week, and 
a good part of the night, or as long as one can see. 
We have something less than 10,000 square feet of 
glass, with a few hundred 3x6 sash. Our conditions 
are somewhat primitive, and T don’t know how the re¬ 
turns would compare with up-to-date plants, but we 
grew and transplanted into “flats” last Spring 373,000 
tomatoes, 290,000 celery, 125,000 cabbage, besides a lot 
of pepper, egg plant, etc., that I have no account of. 
We used three men and four boys practically four 
months, at a total cost for labor of $465; manure, $40; 
coal (pea coal at $2.50), $30; interest on plant at $2,000, 
six per cent, $120; sinking fund at six per cent, $120; 
cost of Hats, 10,000, and making, $400; total $1,175. 
Our plants are grown in flats the size of tomato cases, 
13 x 17 inches inside measure; planted V/ inch each 
way; there will be 108 plants to the box. A 3 x 6 sash 
will cover about nine of these boxes or “flats.” Our 
first sowing of seed is made about February 15; 20 to 25 
days later we begin to transplant. Seed is sown in 
flats of same size with temperature 75 to 80 degrees. 
We count on 1,500 good seedlings from one flat of this 
size. A man who can fill his own boxes and transplant 
5,000 seedlings per day without any help is a first-class 
hand. Our method of planting is somewhat different, 
but that is another story. It should not be forgotten 
that the above calculations make the first season pay for 
the manure and flats, whereas the manure is not injured 
by being placed in bottom of frames, and goes on the 
early celery ground in better shape than if not so used, 
while the flats are good from three to four years. 
We have a little one-horse canning factory doing 
about $50,000 worth of business a year, and I find this 
question of figuring costs is the finest kind of a fine art, 
and it requires a great deal of care to preserve the 
average of cost. As a rtde, our plants are never sold 
for less than $3 per 1.000, and a few years since we lost 
some customers who were induced to buy at a bargain 
counter in the South somewhere, but the length of time 
required by those quickly grown plants to become accli¬ 
mated, together with the poor root system, not having 
been transplanted, not to speak of the mixed character 
of the stock, all tended to discourage buying from such 
sources. m. garrahan. 
Pennsylvania. 
For New Jersey Gardeners. 
The most general method of growing plants in this 
section is by using manure-heated beds. The beds 
should be a sheltered piece of ground with a southern 
exposure, as near the dwelling as possible, as it requires 
frequent trips to and fro in the attention necessary in 
the plant-growing industry, The room required to 
raise 200,000 tomato plants would he a strip of ground 
100 feet long and 50 feet wide; this would allow four 
rows of beds of 25 sash to the row, and give room for 
walks between the rows. Size of sash 7x3 feet 6 
inches, and it would require 100 such sash to raise 
200,000 tomato plants, as 2,000 plants per sash is a very 
fair average, taking into consideration the various risks, 
such as mice in the beds, improper ventilation, etc. A 
good two-horse wagonload of hot manure is used in 
the foundation for every three sashes, after which a 
layer of fine loam is put on and the seed sown in rows. 
As soon as the seed breaks through the soil, the sash 
should be raised for ventilation, a little at first, and as 
the plants become stronger, more ventilation should be 
given. In this section under favorable conditions it 
takes about six weeks for plants to mature to the field 
planting stage. Seed is planted about March 20. For 
