1914. 
the same general method of culture and training is 
applied to the production of all such monstrosities. 
SOIL.—The soil should he a rich compost made 
from sods cut from an old pasture field, the soil 
of which should be a rather heavy sandy loam, 
mixed with an equal bulk of well-rotted cattle 
manure. This compost should be made up at least 
six months before wanted for use, and should be 
cut down with the spade and turned over two or 
three times during that period, in order that it may 
become thoroughly mixed and finely pulverized. 
SOWING.—In the latitude of Philadelphia and 
northward, the seed should be sown August Id to 
15. As soon as the seedlings develop their first set 
of twin leaves, they should be transplanted deeply 
iu 2',4 or three-inch pots, and are kept growing 
rapidly as possible without producing a tender 
succulent growth. As soon as the small pots are filled 
with roots the plants are shifted into pots one inch 
larger, and when the plants have reached a height 
of 14 to Id inches, or when they have developed 
their first blooms, they are shifted into their perma¬ 
nent quarters, which may be the benches, large 
pots or boxes, but for the production of large plants 
the boxes are to be preferred rather than pots, as 
they are much more economical in cost and are 
safer to handle. The boxes should be Id or IS 
inches square by 12 inches deep. Three one-inch 
augur holes should be bored in the bottom to pro¬ 
vide for drainage, and an inch or so of coarse coal 
ashes or broken pots be put in the bottom of the 
box, to facilitate the carrying off of the surplus 
water. Soil to a depth of one inch will be sufficient 
covering over the drainage material. Set the plants 
in the center of the box and till in with soil to a 
height of one inch above the ball of earth surround¬ 
ing the roots of the plant, leaving the remainder 
of the space to be gradually filled in as the plant 
increases in size and demands more food. As the 
tomato requires bottom heat for proper development, 
the boxes should be placed on a bench that is not 
over 12 or 14 inches above the heating pipes. 
TRAINING.—It is a common practice in bench 
culture to train the plants to a single stem, but 
when handled in boxes, two or three steins may be 
utilized to good advantage. Iu either method of 
rmining all side shoots must be pinched off soon 
as they appear, so that all the strength of the plant 
may go to the development of the main stems and 
fruits. As the plants will become top-heavy and 
fall over they will require support of some kind. 
In box culture a bamboo caue*inay be used for each 
stem, to which they are tied with raffia or other soft 
material. The temperature should be kept at GO 
to 70 degrees at night, and about 10 degrees higher 
during greater portion of the day. 
WATERING.—Care must be exercised not to keep 
the soil too wet nor to allow 
it to become dried out. or the 
plants cannot be kept in a 
healthy condition. After the 
boxes have been tilled with 
soil and become pretty well 
filled with roots the plants 
may require additional food 
to keep them moving. This 
is best supplied in the form 
of liquid cattle manure, to 
each bushel of which may be 
added a shovelful of fresh 
hen manure. It is placed in 
a coarse gunny-sack and sus¬ 
pended in a barrel of water. 
Apply once or twice a week, 
or as often as the plants may 
seem to require it in place of 
clear water. 
As the life of the plant 
under glass is from six to 
10 months, by intelligent care 
and proper feeding, many 
plants of the robust tall- 
growing varieties of tomatoes 
used for forcing, may be 
grown to gigantic size, but 
at no time should undue forc¬ 
ing of plant growth be made 
at the sacrifice of the fruits. 
The compost may be used 
with equally satisfactory re¬ 
sults, for crops in the open, 
as pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, cabbage, eggplant, 
etc. A judicious quantity of tine ground bone or hen 
manure may be added to the compost with benefit. 
For pumpkin or squash use a good wheelbarrow 
load in each hill, and for the less rampant growing 
things use proportionately less. If monstrosities are 
desired, allow but one or two fruits to each plant, 
removing all the others as soon as noticed, m dry 
U'HE E U K A. L NEW-VOKKER 
MONSTROUS TOMATO PLANT. 
weather soak well once or twice a week with liquid 
cattle manure* chemicals in liquid form applied 
judiciously will also prove helpful. In the produc¬ 
tion of these big things, the whole secret lies in the 
intelligent culture given them, and that is really no 
secret at all. Just good common sense properly ap¬ 
plied. K, 
SPRAY MIXTURES FOR ORCHARD AND 
GARDEN. 
Spraying Against San Jose Scale. 
The writer still believes in using, linm-sulphur on 
all young and smooth-barked trees and always on 
peach trees. For this work a good commercial 
brand or similar homemade mixture diluted at the 
rate of one part to nine parts of water, is the best 
WESTERN NEW YORK ALEXANDER APPLE. ACTUAL SIZE. 
spray that we can recommend at the present time. 
On old apple trees badly infested, an oil mixture 
may be used. That the latter lias greater penetrat¬ 
ing power is unquestioned. It is often difficult to 
eradicate the scale entirely or even to hold it down 
to unnoticeable numbers without using oil, which 
should be diluted at the rate of one part to 15 parts 
of water. 
336 
Three years ago the station purchased a small 
farm at Mt. Carmel. Conn., upon which were 50 
medium-sized apple trees, which though still sound, 
had been starved and otherwise neglected, and a 
few were badly infested with San Jose scale. We 
have never used oil on these trees, and have at¬ 
tempted to control the scale entirely by spraying 
with lime-sulphur. After two treatments very little 
infestation could lie found on the twigs, but enough 
scale survived each treatment so that their progeny 
considerably disfigured the fruit, and also crawled 
upon the new growth. In order to prevent this, two 
sprayings were given last year, once in. December 
and again about April 1st. The subsequent crop ot 
fruit, rarely showed any scale marks. The young 
scales will not readily set upon bark which has been 
previously coated with lime-sulphur. 
There are now several lime-sulphur powders on 
the market. Some of these, if not ail, contain large 
proportions of sodium sulphide, this being an inex¬ 
pensive product. They are not, therefore, lime-sul¬ 
phur but soda-sulphur powders. These powders will 
probably be efficient and satisfactory as dormant 
sprays to destroy the San Jose scale. For Summer 
treatment of the foliage and fruit, however, there 
is danger, especially where arsenate of lead is used. 
The presence of sodium causes a chemical reaction 
in which sulphide of lead and arsenate of soda are 
formed: the latter is readily soluble and is extreme¬ 
ly destructive to plant tissues, being used to destroy 
poison ivy. Manufacturers claim that because the 
mixture as used in Summer is so dilute, that the 
injury is negligible. 
Ten years ago in our efforts to obtain a lime-sul¬ 
phur mixture without boiling, we employed at this 
station the fused sodium sulphide, purchasing it in 
110-pound drums for the purpose. This material is 
hard as a rock, contains GO per cent of sulphur, and 
when broken shows a reddish color and resembles 
the mineral cinnabar. On exposure to the air it 
blackens and gives off an odor of sulphureted hydro¬ 
gen. By breaking it into small pieces—no larger 
than a hen’s egg—it readily dissolves in water. We 
thus added it to the slaking lime, the heat of which 
helped it dissolve. The caustic solution of sodium 
sulphide thus formed proved to be an excellent solv¬ 
ent for the sulphur. Several formulas were used, 
but one containing 14 pounds lime. 11 pounds sul¬ 
phur, 11 pounds sodium sulphide per barrel of water, 
gave the best results, and compared favorably with 
the boiled lime-sulphur mixture as a scale destroyer. 
It was, however, more caustic to handle. An ac¬ 
count of these experiments may be found in the Re¬ 
port of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment 
Station for l'J04, page 221. and so far as the writer 
is aware, this was the first attempt to use sodium 
sulphide to destroy the San Jose scale. The manu¬ 
facturers of these soluble sul¬ 
phur powders claim that the 
sodium has been through a 
n e w and original process, 
which subjects it to great 
heat, which destroys all its 
burning qualities. Be this as 
it may. the real danger lies, 
not on account of the direct 
caustic action of the sodium 
sulphide when used in so great 
a dilution, but on account of 
the chemical action with the 
arsenate of lead, causing lo¬ 
cal injury which may not be 
at all uniform in effect. 
SPRAYS TO KILL APH¬ 
IDS.—During the past year 
we have tested the merits of 
the nicotine preparation 
“Black Leaf 40,’’ which con¬ 
tains 40 per cent of nicotine 
sulphate. This is said to be 
more uniform than most of 
the other tobacco prepara¬ 
tions on the market, and as 
it is highly concentrated, will 
bear a heavy dilution. For 
most kinds of aphids, one 
teaspoonful to a gallon of 
w ater makes an effective 
spray, killing all aphids 
which it hits. It can be used 
at double strength safely. In 
some instances, as in spraying peas or cabbages the 
liquid does not moisten the leaves, but rolls off in 
drops as from an oiled surface, or like water from 
a duck’s back. By the addition of soap (say one 
pint of soft soap to the barrel) the spreading power 
of the spray and consequently its effectiveness is 
greatly increased. “Black Leaf 40” can be mixed 
(Concluded on pa fie 336.) 
