1‘ Ocr., 1897.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 327 
Growing Tomatoes on Stakes. 
“Tw no section of country,” writes the American Agriculturist, “is tomato 
culture reduced to afiner system than in Mississippi, where the early tomato 
crop follows fast on the Florida and Louisiana shipments. The Mississippi 
growers, owing to their location, early made a special study of the tomato 
plant and succeeded in the adoption of a system that enabled them to compete 
successfully with tomato-growers in Southern Florida and Southern Texas. So 
successful has been the Mississippi plan, that tomatoes are now grown in fields 
of over 100 acres. In the successful culture of the tomato, early maturity is 
all important, and the Mississippi grower raises his plants in a hotbed to a 
good, stocky size, and early in spring sets them out in the field, being parti- 
cularly careful to take up a comparatively large block of earth with each plant, 
so that the growth is scarcely checked. Very soon he goes through and pinches 
out all axiliary suckers or sprouts. This forces the sap into the main stalk, 
and induces early fruiting. Some suckers may come from beneath the surface 
of the ground. These must also be pulled off, leaving a single stem. As soon 
as the planting is completed, a split stake, 5 feet in length, is firmly set at 
each plant, and, about the time the fruit is setting, each plant is tied with 
common cord, which has previously been wound around a bit of plank, and cut 
13 to 14 inches in length. Each string is then tied firmly around the stake and 
loosely about the stem of the plant, so as not to interfere with its growth, being 
careful, also, not to allow the fruit to cluster so as to rub the stake. The 
sprouts or axillary suckers will grow very rapidly, and must be kept constantly 
pinched off. Three tyings are usually necessary up to the time when five good 
clusters of fruit have set. When these aggregate 20 or 25 tomatoes, the top is 
pinched off, and the whole strength of the plants is centred in the production 
of firm, bright, smooth tomatoes, of good and uniform size. Care is taken to 
leave a leaf stem above the top cluster for shade. Pinching back the suckers 
tends to increase the size of the leaves, making ample shade for the fruit. 
The objection that pruning leaves the fruit too much exposed, and causes sun- 
burn, is not borne out in practice. By persistently checking all superfluous 
growth, both plant food and moisture are economised, and the size of the fruit 
is kept up to good standard. An additional advantage is that the well-pruned 
plants can be set closer, and the danger from rot is much reduced. The 
Mississippi planter pinches back the stem, as stated, because of his comparatively 
short shipping season, for the plant contains all it can profitably mature. For 
a garden crop, or one on rich land, the stalks can be trained to 5-foot stakes, or 
as high as desired. Growers usually hesitate to plant tomatoes on rich land, 
fearing a rank growth with but little fruit; but by the system of pruning as 
practised in Mississippi, the plant is forced into fruiting. This system is also 
of great value in small gardens where the space is limited.” 
