lo L 
NOTES FROM “ SUNNY TENNESSEE.” 
Market Gardening in Middle South. 
THE TOMATO CROP.—The picture entitled “Sunny 
Tennessee," Fig. 138, was taken last season, and repre¬ 
sents two boys and an acre of tomatoes, both of which 
had almost constant attention. The seed from which 
these tomatoes were grown was sown in February. 
The plants came up nicely, and in March were trans¬ 
planted to cold frame. They were set 4x6 inches, and 
grew finely. But this season we shall give them 
more room, as we find that in taking them up for the 
field the roots are interwoven, and more or less soil is 
shaken from them. A cool spell latter part of April 
kept us from setting them in the field until first of 
May. April 20 is our usual date. After plants had 
become well established in cold frame they were 
given but very little moisture—during the day they 
water, as I have so often seen farmers do in setting 
plants. We had one man to carry plants from cold 
frame and set them in the freshly opened furrow 
four feet apart. The man who did the setting carried 
a bundle of papers cut 4x6 inches. Just as he com¬ 
pleted the setting of one plant and while moving to 
the next one he reached for a slip of this paper, which 
was not stiff, but rather heavy. After a little practice 
he could wrap the paper around the stalk of the plant 
and with a trowel rake the dirt around the plant 
tightly to a height two inches below the top of the 
paper almost as quickly as one who was not wrapping 
the plants. Even if this precaution took twice the 
time it does it would be cheap insurance. When the 
plants became somewhat top-heavy a stout stake about 
four feet high was driven near each plant. Plants 
were kept suckered, and were tied to stake in two 
places, at about one foot from the ground and also 
Valley cities constitutes the leading agricultural pur¬ 
suit of this immediate vicinity. Our ripening season 
begins about the middle of April to first of May. 
Four to six weeks picking winds up the season, and 
this includes both early and late varieties. The yield 
per acre ranges from 50 to 100 crates per acre. The 
standard 24-quart ventilated crate is used here. If 
there is any one fruit or vegetable which more than 
any other seems at home in this climate it is the straw¬ 
berry, and having this in mind when reading an article 
in The R. N.-Y. by the editor, stating that some New 
Jersey man claimed 40,000 quarts or over 1,500 crates 
per acre, it sets me to wondering if such a thing were 
not possible here. The usual procedure of berry grow¬ 
ers here is to clear a piece of upland, grub out a few 
worst roots and stumps, break the ground usually 
twice, lay off rows three to y/ 2 feet apart, and set 
plants 18 inches. Plants are hoed once and plowed 
IN “SUNNY TENNESSEE," WHERE THEY RAISE BOYS AND TOMATOES. Fig. 138. 
would often wilt, then when ready to take to field the 
bed was soaked thoroughly and the plants taken up 
by running a spade under them and lifting to light 
trays or baskets. We set them under a rather hot 
sun, and not over one plant in 10 even wilted, and not 
one died from transplanting. The season previous 
we had been worried greatly by cutworms, and in 
oider to avoid the shock of going out mornings and 
finding great big healthy blooming plants cut off at 
the ground, I decided to wrap the body of each plant 
w ’th paper. 1 his is less trouble than one would think, 
and certainly less than resetting what the cutworms 
min. Our ground was prepared a week or so ahead 
of plant-setting by bedding the ground up two furrows 
to each side, the fertilizer having been first put in the 
1 ovv mixed with soil. We kept the horse and plow 
ready, and opened up these beds just as each was 
set. In this way we kept moist soil ready to put 
around roots of plants and had no bother carrying 
near the top of stake. After vines had set four to 
six clusters of fruit they were topped. The only 
thing then left for the plant to do was ripen the 
fruit. While the yield was not very large the quality 
of the tomatoes was very high. Average size was 30 
to a peck. We had very few wormy tomatoes. Prob¬ 
ably the reason was because we placed a tub of water 
in the center of the patch, placed a lamp over the 
center and left it to burn all night. Whether or not 
the moths we drowned were the reason we had .so few 
wormy tomatoes or not, I do not know. Who does? 
The yield from the acre was something like 200 bushels 
of marketable tomatoes. Variety we grow is Living¬ 
ston Beauty. We would like to know how much 
rotted manure tomatoes will stand, increasing yield, 
before the point is reached where all goes to vine 
instead of fruit. 
GROWING STRAWBERRIES.—The growing of 
strawberries for shipment to the markets of the Ohio 
anywhere from two to 10 times, just according to how 
large a crop and scarcity of labor and stock. Berries 
are grown for three crops, then as a rule this land 
is discarded for a new piece. But as the country be¬ 
comes more and more settled it is soon coming to the 
point where this policy can no longer be pursued; old 
land must be fertilized and brought up to a point 
where large yields may be obtained from small areas. 
Scarcity of farm help makes this idea seem all the 
better, for how much easier it would be to prepare 
and cultivate one acre and pick therefrom 1,500 crates 
than to work 15 or 20 acres to get the same result. If 
the large yield was caused mainly by increase in size 
of the berry the price per crate would be anywhere 
from 25 cents to $1 per crate greater than for ordin¬ 
ary fruit. I have an acre of Klondike due to bear 
first crop this Spring which last season a month after 
setting produced a few berries about the size of guinea 
eggs. This patch was preceded by tomatoes, which had 
