Tomato 
Greenhouse growers should try our Super 
Select Grade of Tomato seed in comparison 
with the best they have been able to obtain 
from any other source; listed page 85. 
OUR TOMATO SEED 
The tomato is a universally favorite vegetable and no other fruit 
carries greater health bearing elements. No matter how small the 
garden, it should contain at least a few plants so that the family can 
have a fresh supply during a long season. The fresh fruits sliced or 
used in leafy salads add zest to the appetite. The use of canned 
tomato juice as a beverage or cocktail is growing by leaps and bounds. 
During the year 1929, the commercial packing of tomato juice was 
only 185,000 cases, while during 1936 this had increased to 9,000,000 
cases. 
Of recent years there has been a great im¬ 
provement in tomato varieties. Fruits are 
smoother, larger, flesh more solid, plant yields 
increased and disease resistant varieties developed. Our tomato seed 
certainly must have “something on the Ball” because our sales in the 
larger tomato shipping districts have increased so rapidly. With 
probably no other vegetable is the value of high altitude growing of 
the seed and the natural selection for earliness and hardiness so well 
demonstrated. The soil, sunshine and irrigation water supply the ele¬ 
ments needed to develop seed of strong vitality. Seed being the plant 
in embryo transfers this increased vitality on to the growing plants 
and results in larger yields of high quality tomatoes. Our seed crops 
are grown from select stock seed saved from individual plants. Many 
hothouse growers demand this grade of super select seed. You will 
find it listed on page 85. 
HOW TO GROW 1 ounce of seed will produce 3,000 to 4,000 plants, 
however, some should be allowed for safety so 
HJMAlvJto that only good strong plants may be set. Ordi¬ 
narily two ounces of seed is the amount suggested 
per acre but this is usually more than enough. Plants should be set 
out as soon as all danger of frost is over. Seed may be planted in the 
hotbed or in flats in the greenhouse about six weeks before trans¬ 
planting to the field. Sufficient plants for a small garden can be 
started by sowing a few seeds in a shallow box and placing in a 
sunny window in the house. When the seedlings reach the height 
of about one inch, they may be “pricked out” in a larger box, hot 
bed or cold frame and spaced about 4 inches apart. The article on 
page 4 gives information regarding hotbeds and coldframes. Use only 
loose soil that will not bake or crust easily. This extra transplanting 
is now rarely done by large commercial growers. The plants usually 
being thinned in the beds to stand two or three inches either way. 
If the plants become too tall and “leggy” they are sometimes sheared. 
It is much better, however, to keep the beds cool enough so that short, 
stocky, hardy plants are produced. Keep the soil moist enough for 
good steady growth. Too much watering will result in spindling plants 
and increase the danger of “damping off.” 
TDAKiCDi AKiTlxir' Varieties with small vines may be set four feet by 
I KAiNorLAN 11 INt? four feet which will require 2,723 plants per acre. 
1,743 plants are required if spaced 5 feet by 5 feet. 
This much room or more being required by the large vining sorts 
such as Norton and Indiana Baltimore. If checked in squares, plants 
may be cultivated both ways. In transplanting the main points to 
be regarded are: care in taking up the plants to avoid injury to the 
roots, setting out as soon as possible to prevent the air coming in 
contact with the roots, setting out firmly to prevent the hot sun from 
withering and blighting the leaves. Before setting out, harden the 
plants by letting them get quite dry a day or two before, but give 
them abundance of water a few hours before pulling. Setting out is 
most apt to be successfully done just at evening or immediately 
before or during a rain. About the worst time is just after a rain, 
when the ground being wet it is impossible to sufficiently press it 
about the plants without baking hard. Under irrigation, plants should 
be set on the edge of the furrow and immediately followed by water. 
If possible irrigate once each day for two or three days following. 
If not under irrigation, single holes are drug, the roots inserted, the 
earth filled in and the water poured on top to settle the plants. If 
water is used at all it should be used freely and the wet surface 
immediately covered with dry soil about the plants. Set the plants 
deeply (about two-thirds of the stem) and new roots will be thrown 
out from the buried portion. 
\A/ATCDIM<~ best time to water plants is early in the morning 
WAItKIINo Qj. jjj evening. Water may be given to the roots at 
any time, but should never be sprinkled over the leaves 
while they are exposed to the bright sunshine. If watering a plant 
has been commenced, continue to supply it as it is needed or more 
injury than good will result from what has been given. One copious 
watering is better than many sprinklings. The ground should always 
be stirred with a hoe or rake before it becomes so very dry as to cake 
or crack. 
TO A iKtiKi AAtr^ DDIIK.IIK.I ^ Of course, it IS not necessary that the 
TRAINING AND PRUNING vines be trained or pruned but this does 
have certain advantages. Stakes may be 
set and the plants pruned to a single stem, tying perpendicular to 
the stake with cord. This is rather an expensive process and not fol¬ 
lowed by most commercial growers. Many, however, pinch out all 
lateral branches as soon as they appear and confine the growth to 
one stem. When several clusters of fruit are set on, the vines are 
topped; this stopping further growth of the vine and concentrates 
the energy of the plant toward maturing the fruits that are already 
set. Advocates of this system claim larger fruits and several days 
of earliness over unpruned plants. Cultivate as long as the vines will 
78 
D. V. Burrell Seed Growers Co., Rocky Ford, Colo 
