—- 
and the earth pulverised finely around 
three or four 
them on the ground. 
OcTOBER I, 1902. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
them. Ifa plant is very tall it is better to 
lay it down in a furrow, only showing 
inches above the soil. 
Having set the plants about four feet 
apart, or, in very good soil, 5 feet apart, 
they should becultivated at once, and re- 
peated shallow cultivations should be given 
every five or six days. If the land has been 
thoroughly well prepared, and contains a 
‘sufficient vegetation from last year’s crop, 
there is little danger of drought or scald. 
I believe that blight can in a measure be 
lessened or even prevented, by thorough 
preparation of the soil. To reach the 
highest possible yield, the land should be 
‘spread with manure after being ploughed 
—the more the better. The last working 
of the ground should be as nearly level as 
possible, and cultivation should cease when 
the plants have grown half-way across the 
OWS. 
The best variety of fertiliseris one thatcon- 
‘tains nitrate of sodaand muriate of potash. 
I beleive that 1,000: Ib. to the acre would 
-amply repay the producer in the increase in 
yield. A tomato grown on poor soil will 
yield about 350 I-lb. cans per ton; while 
the most perfect fruit, grown on rich land, 
will give at least 500 1-lb. cans. Therefore, 
mot only the grower is better paid, but the 
profit to the canner becomes more. I have 
noticed land that will grow peaches in 
the greatest perfection is the best variety 
-of soil for the tomato. 
In the cultivation of a large field of 
tomatoes I have always left several road- 
ways for hauling and handling the fruit. I 
generally have the fruit gathered in five- 
eigth baskets, rejecting the imperfect ones, 
‘but always pulling them off and throwing 
Tomatoes should 
not be poured from one basket to another, 
as it bruises them. 
A tomato patch should be picked every 
three days and if they ripen very rapidly, 
it is better to pick them very close. The 
fruit should be of uniform ripeness when 
delivered to the canner and should be 
hauled in a spring wagon. 
DIsEASE AND INsecr PEsts. 
To prevent tomato blight, if the top of 
the plants were dipped in aweak solution of 
Bordeaux mixture, it would be a great 
benefit. They can be easily sprayed in 
the bed before they are transplanted to 
good advantage. This, followed by 
spraying twice during the cultivation 
will most always prevent blight. A 
tomato crop should never be grown two 
years in succession on the same land 
nor should it follow a crop of potatoes. ; 
A great deal of good can be done by 
destroying the moth that.lay eggs for 
tomato worms. If there are any jimson 
weeds in the adjoining fields they will 
always frequent these. They can be 
killed by paddles or destroyed by poison. 
A weak solution of cobalt placed in the 
blossom of the jimson weed will destro 
a great many of them. I think fires 
built around the tomato patch will also 
help to destroy them. The egg is 
deposited on the under side of the tomato 
leaf, and if one watches the moth, he will 
find that it is erratic and will visit’ almost 
the entire field in the course of an 
evening. Its capacity for laying eggs is 
immense. Perhaps several thousand will 
be laid by one insect in the course of a 
few days. The old-time remedy of 
using a flock of turkeys is an excellent 
one. To save my patches I had to resort 
to a weak solution of Paris green. One 
ounce of Paris green to 50 gallons of 
water makes a strong insecticide. This 
can be put on by an ordinary sprayer on 
wheels or by hand. 
0 
How Tillage Retains Mois- 
ture in the Soil. 
2eooee 
The following article by the late pro- 
fessor E. S. Goff of Wisconsin U. S. A., 
gives the most lucid explanation of the 
theory and system of soil cuitivation that 
we have ever read. 
Scientists tell us we have rainfall enough 
during the year for the largest crops, if 
we could only save it. The statement has 
often been made that we can save water 
by tillage. This has been proclaimed 
from college rostrums, written and 
reiterated through the agricultural press, 
harped and chanted at farmers’ institutes 
until to many of us the subject has 
become stale. I suppose that most of you 
accept the proposition on faith, but you 
do not know how much of reality or tangi- 
bility is in it. Sometimes you doubt the 
truth of it; you would like to see some 
proof; you do not understand it. Plough- 
ing the land seems to make it dry faster ; 
you want more evidence ; you are open 
to conviction. 
When we hear the theory expounded it 
seems all right. By ploughing the land 
we make a million little cisterns beneath 
the surface. These catch the water and 
prevent it from forming into streams and 
running off. Especially is this true on 
nearly level ground. But when the sun 
comes out will not this water dry out as 
fast as it came? Certainly it would il we 
permit it to. 
The theory that tillage saves moisture 
is simple enough. Suppose this book 
which I hold in my hand werea brick. If 
I were to wrap a brick in impervious 
waxed paper and set the brick up ina 
shallow pan of water you all know that 
the water would gradually work up 
through the brick until the top end 
became wet, and then it would begin to 
evaporate from the upper end of the 
brick. Now, suppose we slip the brick 
out of the waxed paper and break it into 
pieces the size of a kernel of corn, then 
dry these fragments over a fire and pour 
them back into the waxed paper case 
again, we can readily understand that the 
water will not creep through the pieces 
of brick as rapidly as it did through the 
unbroken brick. The water has no power 
to jump from one fragment to another, 
and it can only pass from one fragment to 
another when they happen to be in con- 
tact, and these roughly broken pieces will 
be in contact only at their corners. Thus 
19 
the passageway for the water is reduced 
to a mere fraction of its former capacity. 
You will also recognise that if the brick 
were all broken into fragments we could 
not get all the fragments into the same 
space that the unbroken brick occupied. 
When we crumble the surface layers of 
the soil we raise the surface level, hence 
the water not only has to travel further 
than it did before to get to the surface, 
but its passageway is largely destroyed. 
By harrowing down the surface of our 
ploughed fields, or by cultivating the sur- 
face after it has been compacted together 
by rains, we forma crumpled layer of soil 
through which the water from below can 
hardly rise. The drier this surface layer 
becomes the less water can pass through it. 
oO 
The Barrel Strawberry. 
=EGCO=x . 
The Barrel Strawberry Culture, which 
made a little bit of a sensation here a 
few years ago, and which was so suc- 
cessfuly translated to Europe, especially Eng- 
land, still holds public attention there. So 
much s0, indeed, that an enterprising firm in 
London has introduced a specially con- 
structed barrel on a revolving base. It is 
claimed that ‘this plan of cultivation pos- 
sesses great advantages of economy in labour 
and space over ordinary methods. With 
this system the plants may be forced without 
glass, and a large outlay for building, heating 
apparatus, and labour is saved. In each barrel 
is placed a wire box; this should be filled 
with good peat manure or stable manure. 
The watering of the earth surrounding the 
box is done by an ordinary rose watering can. 
If it is not wanted to force the plants, the 
wire box is simply stuffed with hay, straw, or 
even ordinary leaves. If the contents of the 
box be watered twice a week the plants will 
keep perfectly fresh. A ring of iron fixed to 
the bottom of the barrel rests upon three 
small wheels working on a second iron ring 
placed upon two pieces of timber or bricks 
sufficient to give the whole a solid base. The 
barrels may be easily turned so as to give 
each side its full amout of sunshine. The 
barrels take up but little space, and may be 
placed along the paths of a kitchen or other 
garden, against walls, on a terrace, or on a 
plank in a farmyard where, under ordinary 
circumstances, it would be impossible to use 
the ground for cultivation. The iron-bound 
barrel painted inside and out, pierced with 
too holes, is 15s.; revolving frame complete, 
15s.; Wire manure box, 58.—American Gar- 
dening. 
Although tomatoes can be grown to per: 
fection in New South Wales, it is not an un- 
usual thing to see large quantities of 
American canned tomatoes offered for sale 
in Sydney. The amount of money made out 
of tomatoes by the Americans is considerable, 
The Minister for Agriculture has received 
from the Indiana Experimental Station their 
report on crops in the States for rgor. It 
shows that in Indiana and Maryland 
2,159,000 cases of canned tomatoes were 
packed, the value of which to the farmer 
would be nearly £300,000. 
