H  journal  of  horticulture  and  cottage  gardener.  January  5,  1899. 
Dnrirg  continuous  daily  sunshine  these  complex  compounds  aie 
formed  in  greater  abundance  than  can  be  utilired  for  the  growth,  the 
surplus  is  stored  by  as  a  reserve  to  he  drawn  upon  in  the  formation  of 
flowers  and  seed.  Wood  fully  developed  and  its  vessels  stored  with 
these  products  of  elaboration  is  the  measure  of  its  ripeness,  as  under¬ 
stood  in  its  true  sense,  and  this  is  what  our  professional  instinct  swears 
T.  G.  W.  be  continued.! 
TOMATOES  AGAIN. 
With  the  beginning  of  the  new  year  growers  of  Tomatoes  on  a 
large  scale  will  commence  work  in  earnest.  Many  seeds  have  doubtless 
been  already  sown — in  fact,  our  first  sowing  was  made  a  fortnight  ago; 
but  the  plants  from  seeds  sown  at  the  present  time  come  on  so  quickly 
with  the  lengthening  days  that  there  is  little,  if  anything,  gained  by 
sowing  before  the  1st  of  January.  Inserting  a  single  seed  in  a  small 
pot  is  sometimes  practised  in  private  gardens;  but  when  thousands 
of  plants  are  grown  this  is  rather  too  tedious  a  business.  I  sow  in 
shallow  boxes,  placing  the  seed  about  half  an  inch  apart,  the  recep¬ 
tacles  being  placed  in  a  propagating  house  where  a  temperature  of  70" 
is  maintained.  In  three  days  the  seedlings  are  visible,  and  as  soon 
as  they  are  large  enough  to  handle  they  are  Iransplanted  to  other 
boxes,  being  set  about  inch  apart,  watered,  and  placed  on  a  shelf  or 
temporary  stage  near' the  glass. 
If  kept  in  a  temperature  ranging  between  60°  and  70°,  according  to 
the  weather,  they  grow  sturdy  and  short- jointed,  and  yet  make  rapid 
progress.  The  important  p>oint  to  act  upon  at  this  stage  is  to  pot  the 
plants  before  they  become  in  the  least  crowded.  Failure  to  act  soon 
enough  in  this  respect  has  often  brought  the  box  system  into  disrepute, 
but  I  have  proved  to  my  own  satisfaction  that,  when  properly  managed, 
as  good  plants  may  be  produced  by  it  as  by  any  other.  The  plants  for 
the  early  house  I  like  to  place  in  6-inch  pots,  and  get  them  well  rooted 
in  the  soil  befo’e  planting  out,  as  this  gives  the  opportunity  of  keeping 
them  very  close  to  the  glass  for  a  longer  time  than  when  they  are 
planted  from  4-inch  pots.  All  cultivators  like  to  see  their  first 
truss  of  flowers  close  to  tho  ground,  and  by  giving  this  extra  shift  the 
object  in  view  is  promoted.  For  this  second  potting  a  suitable  compost 
is  formed  of  three  parts  old  turfy  loam  and  one  part  hotbed  manure, 
the  soil  of  course  being  pressed  very  firmly. 
Various  methods  of  planting  have  to  be  adopted  according  to  the 
style  of  house  in  which  tho  plants  are  to  be  grown.  Lotus  take  the 
case  of  one  built  for  Tomatoes,  in  which  the  plants  are  placed  in  the 
Qatural  soil.  If  Tomatoes  are  to  be  planted  for  the  first  time  iu  it  no 
other  preparation  than  that  of  dieging  and  levelling  will  be  neces¬ 
sary,  as  it  is  undesirable  to  mike  the  soil  too  rich;  fertilisers  can 
easily  be  applied  when  the  fruit  is  swelling.  Now  let  us  suppose  we 
have  a  border  which  has  already  been  cropped  once  or  twice;  in  this 
case  I  should  not  care  to  fork  in  farmyard  manure,  but.  rather  rely  on 
a  dressing  of  lime  and  kainit,  tho  latter  at  the  rate  of  3  ozs.  to  the 
square  yard,  then  when  a  good  quantity  of  fruit  was  swelling  manure 
could  be  employed  as  a  top-dressing. 
Plant  houses  are  now'  in  nearly  all  establishments  used  for  Tomato 
growing  during  the  summer,  and  in  such  it  is  generally  necessary  to 
plant  on  the  stages.  This  plan  I  adopted  last  season  with  great 
success.  I  fastened  boards  9  inches  in  depth,  and  about  14  inches 
from  the  wall  sides  of  the  house,  a  little  rough  turf  w'as  placed  in  the 
bottom  of  the  enclosure,  which  was  then  filled  with  ordinary  garden 
soil,  rather  inclined  to  be  sandy,  yet  fairly  holding  in  character.  In 
this  the  plants  w'cre  a  decided  success ;  and  as  such  soil  has  to  be 
cleared  out  each  year  and  replaced  with  fresh,  trouble  from  eel  worms 
is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
Tho  object  of  most  cultivators  is  to  get  as  many  bright,  clear¬ 
skinned  fruits  of  moderate  size  as  possible  from  a  given  space.  Some 
set  their  plants  only  a  foot  apart,  but  I  think  that  nothing  is  gained 
by  such  close  planting.  From  14  to  17  inches  I  find  suitable,  but 
such  strong  grow'ers  as  Challenger  require  the  greater  distance. 
Soould  the  soil  be  in  the  least  wet  when  taken  into  the  house  it  ought 
to  be  thrown  up  in  the  form  of  a  ridge  till  fairly  dry,  and  then  pressed 
very  firmly  as  planting  proceeds. 
Varieties. — For  early  use  Sutton’s  A1  is  a  grand  cropper,  and 
although  the  fruit  is  corrugated  it  is  an  open  question  if  early  in  the 
season  it  does  not  prove  more  profitable  than  the  smooth  varieties. 
Among  the  latter  Frogmore  Prolific  and  Sutton’s  Eclipse  are  two  of 
sterling  merit.  The  latter  I  tried  for  the  first  time  last  year,  and 
shall  this  season  grow  it  extensively,  as  it  produces  enormous  clusters  of 
brightly  coloured  fruits  of  the  right  size.  I  believe  Challenger  will 
carry  as  great  a  weight  of  crop  as  any  Tomato  grown,  but  the  fruits 
are  a  trifle  too  large.  I  think,  however,  by  selecting  medium-sized 
fruits  for  seed  I  shall  in  time  alter  its  character.  At  any  rate  I  shall 
not  discard  it  yet,  as  it  grows  so  well,  and  on  that  account  is  useful 
for  planting  among  the  centre  of  span-roofed  houses.  Up-to-Date  I 
hope  to  give  a  trial  this  season.  If  it  comes  up  to  its  reputation  it 
must  be  a  wonder  indeed. — II,  D. 
EELWORMS  IN  VINE  ROOTS. 
A  FEW  Wet  ks  ago  a  correspondent,  “  E.  Pi.,  junior,”  sent  a  sample 
of  Vine  roots  differing  from  any  we  had  hitherto  seen,  and  after 
satisfying  ourselves  that  the  enemy  was  not  the  dreaded  phylloxera, 
Mr.  Abbey  was  requested  to  bring  to  bear  on  the  dissected  nodosities 
his  500  power  magnifiers,  and  see  what  he  could  find.  He  has  done 
so,  and  was  thereby  made  a  happy  man  during  Christmastide.  He 
found  colonies  of  eelworms  that  gladdened  his  heart,  inasmuch  as  they 
wore  the  first  of  the  kind  he  has  discovered  feasting  on  the  roots  of 
the  Vine,  and  he  believes  a  similar  case  has  not  been  recorded.  If  that 
is  not  enough  to  make  an  eel  worm  man  happy  we  do  not  know  what 
is,  and  we  may  be  sure  the  discoverer  would  not  have  missed  this  lucky 
find  for  a  dozen  of  the  fattest  turkeys  in  the  land.  Here  follows  the 
record,  with  illustrations.  _ 
“E.  R.,  junior’s,”  very  fibrous,  yet  tuberculated,  specimens  of  Vine 
roots  had  a  singular  appearance.  A  small  portion  is  shown  with 
exactitude  in  the  illudration  (fig.  3),  natural  size.  The  excrescences 
were  confined  to 
•  j  the  fibrelets  of  the 
^  apparently  cur- 
“T  rent  year’s  forma¬ 
tion,  or  one-year- 
old  roots  (a).  A 
few  fibres  showed 
no  trace  of  the 
attack  (h) ;  but 
mostof  them  were 
“  knotted,”  and 
for  the  chief  part 
at  tho  extremi¬ 
ties  (c).  A  few 
nodosities  were 
found  on  the 
branchlets  (d), 
but  none  on  the 
part  of  the  main 
root,  as  I  take 
it,  more  than  one 
year  old  (e  to  /.) 
The  pest,  there¬ 
fore,  was  incap¬ 
able  of  piercing 
through  the  cuti- 
cular  cells  of  two- 
year- old  roots,  or 
of  penetrating 
them  to  the  cam¬ 
bium  or  formative 
layer,  which  is 
necessary  for  the 
growth  of  new 
(cellular)  tissue 
and  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  an  ex¬ 
crescence,  or 
warty  swelling. 
This  case  is  very 
important,  as  in¬ 
dicating  the  power 
of  the  enemy  in 
ils  altaeks  on  the 
roots  of  the  Vine. 
The  creature, 
whatsoever  it 
may  be,  thought 
I,  while  generally 
preferring  the 
tender  fibrelets, 
has  also  attacked 
the  somewhat 
older  portions  of 
the  current  year’s 
roots  at  d;  but 
these,  on  careful 
exam  i na  tion, 
were  found  to 
consist  solely  of 
Fig.  3. — Nodosities  on  Vine  Roots.  tissue,  and 
Beferenees.—a,  excrescences  on  young  fibrelets ;  6,  clean  attacK 
fibres;  c,  chief  attack  or  swellings  at  extremities  of  taken  place  whilst 
fibres ;  d,  nodosities  on  branchlets  or  older  parts  of  tissues  were 
roots  ;  «  to/,  portion  of  roct  free  from  excrescences  (all 
natural  size).  younger 
and 
