Full text of "Tomato culture; a practical treatise on the tomato, its history, characteristics, planting, fertilization, cultivation in field, garden, and green house, harvesting, packing, storing, marketing, insect enemies and diseases, with methods of control and remedies, etc., etc"

See other formats

UNIVERSITY OF B.C. LIBRARY DUPL

3 9424 05045 486 4

-.r.:.>riwitirirtiwrKf»'»-tfa8w»*WTf ir jir^'UTir^cyt:

• I \*

\r v;^. ;/

SlOI<A(J£ l\:\:.iA
PSfOC lid ii I N ij— (J N £

Lp 1 — i> 1 6C
U.B.C. LIBRARY

0t &t MttiWW'U^M

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2010 with funding from

University of British Columbia Library

http://www.archive.org/details/tomatocultureprOOtrac

WHKRK .NKW VARIETiKS OF TO.MATUKS ARI. DKVELOPEIJ A\l» TKSTKD
(By courtesy American Agriculturist. I'lioto by Prof. W. Ci. Johnson)

TOMATO CULTURE

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE TOMATO, ITS
HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS, PLANTING, FERTIL-
IZATION, CULTIVATION IN FIELD, GARDEN, AND
GREENHOUSE, HARVESTING, PACKING. STOR^
INC, MARKETING, INSECT ENEMIES AND DISEASES,
WITH METHODS OF CONTROL AND REMEDIES,
ETC., ETC.

WILL \V. THACY

Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY

1918

H)r. *3f:.i5B:i. :lbeiamer

IN HONOR OF HIS '.liFECOJ.NlG EFFORTS FOR THE

BETTERMENT OF'^AM^ERICAN HORTICULTURAL

PRACTICE

Printed in U. S. A.

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY

All rights pvsefued

PREFACE

This little book has been written in fulfilment of a
promise made many years ago. Again and again I
have undertaken the work, only to lay it aside be-
cause I felt the need of greater experience and wider
knowledge. I do not now feel that this deficiency has
been by any means fully supplied, but in some direc-
tions it has been removed through the kindness of Dr.
F. H. Chittenden of the Bureau of Entomology, who
wrote the chapter on insect enemies, and of W. A.
Orton of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United
States Department of Agriculture, who wrote the
chapter on diseases of tomatoes.

I have made free use of. without special credit, and
am largely indebted to, the writings of Doctor Stur-
tevant and Professor Gofif, Professor Munson of
]\Iaine, Professor Halsted of New Jersey, Professor
Corbett of Washington, Professor Rolfs of Florida,
Professor Bailey of New York, Professor Green of
Ohio, and many others. I have also found a vast
amount of valuable information in the agricultural
press of this country in general. I am also indebted
to L. B. Coulter and Prof. W. G. Johnson for many
photographs. My thanks are also due B. F. William-

VI PREFACE

son, who made the excellent drawings for this book
under Professor Johnson's direction.

Tomatoes are among the most generally used and
popular vegetables. They are grown not only in gar-
dens, but in large areas in every state from Maine to
California and Washington to Florida, and under
very dififerent conditions of climate, soil and cultural
facilities, as well as of requirements as to character of
fruit. The methods which will give the best results
under one set of conditions are entirely unsuited to
others.

I have tried to give the nature and requirements of
the plant and the effect of conditions as seen in my
own experience, a knowledge of which may enable
the reader to follow the methods most suited to his
own conditions and requirements, rather than to rec-
ommend the exact methods which have given me the
best results.

Will W. Tracy.

Washiiifi^toiu April, IQO/.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface ......... v

CHAPTER I

BOTAXV OF THE ToMATO . . . u, . . I

CHAPTER II
History ......... ^.14

CHAPTER III
Gexeral Ciiaracteuistics of the Plant . ^j . 20

CHAPTER IV
Essentials for Development . . . .. .^ 28

CHAPTER V
Selection of Soil for Maximum Crop - - ' 33

CHAPTER VI
Exposure and Location ...... 38

CHAPTER VII
Fertilizers . . . . a . l- • 43

CHAPTER VIII
Prei'aration of the Soil ...... 46

CHAPTER IX
HoTr.EKs AND Cold-frames ..... 51

VUl COXTF.XTS

CHAPTER X PAGF.

Starting Plants ....... 59

CHAPTER XI
Proper Distance for Pl.\nting . . . .68

CHAPTER XII
Cultivation . . . . . ... 76

CHAPTER XIII
Staking, Training and Prixixg .... 79

CHAPTER XIV
Ripening. Gathering. Handling axd Marketixg the

Fruit . . . . . ... . .90

CHAPTER XV
Adaptation of Varieties ...... 97

CHAPTER XVI
Seed Breedixg and Growing . . . .112

CHAPTER XVII
Production for Cannixg . . . . . .117

CHAPTER XVIII
Cost of Production . . . . . . .121

CHAPTER XIX
Insects Injurious ro the Tomato .... 123

CHAPTER XX
Tom.\to Disea-ses ....... 131

Index ......... 148

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

FIGURE

1. Where new varieties of tomatoes are developed

and tested .... Frontispiece

2. Tomato flowers

3. Two-celled tomato ^

4. Three-celled tomato ^

5. Currant tomato and characteristic clusters . . 5

6. Red cherry tomato ^

7. Pear-shaped tomato .....•• «

8. Yellow plum tomato • ^

9. One of the first illustrations of the tomato . .11

10. An early illustration of the tomato ... 12

11. Typical bunch of modern tomatoes ... 27

12. Tomatoes trained to stakes in the South . . 35

13. Three-sash hotbed 52

14. Cross-section of hotbed 53

15. Cold-frames on hill-side 54

16. Transplanting tomatoes under cloth-covered frames 56

17. Spotting-board for use in cold-frames . . 61

18. Spotting-board for use on flat . . . .62

19. Tomatoes sown and allowed to grow in hotbeds . 69

20. Planting tomatoes on a Delaware farm . . 75

21. Training tomatoes in Florida to single stake

22. Tomato plant trained to single stake .

23. Method of training to three stems in forcing-house

and out of doors ....•• 83
?4. Training on lino in greenhouse ... 84

81
82

IIJ-L-STUATIONS

FIOVRE PAGE

25. Ready to transplant in greenhouse ... 85

26. Training young tomatoes in greenhouse at New

York experiment station .... 86

27. Tomatoes in greenhouse at the Ohio experiment

station ........ 87

28. Forcing tomatoes in greenhouse at New Hamp-

shire experiment station ..... 88

29. Florida tomatoes properly wrapped for long ship-

ment ........ 93

30. Greenhouse tomatoes packed fur market . . 95

31. Buckeye State, showing lung nodes and distance

between fruit clusters ..... 98

32. Stone, and characteristic foliage ... 99

33. Atlantic Prize, and its normal foliage . . 101

34. Dwarf Champion ...... 103

35. A cutworm and parent moth ..... 124

36. Flea-beetle .125

7)1. Margined blister beetle ..... 125

38. Tomato worm ....... 126

39. Tomato stalk-borer ...... 127

40. Characteristic work of the tomato fruit worm . 128

41. Adult moth, or parent of tomato fruit worm . 129

42. Proper way to make Bordeaux . . . .137

43. Point-rot disease of the tomato • . . .. 140

TOMATO CULTURE

CHAPTER I
Botany of the Tomato

The common tomato of our gardens belongs to
the natural order Solaiiaccac and the genus Lycopcr-
siciini. The name from lykos, a wolf, and persica.
a peach, is given it because of the supposed aphro-
disiacal qualities, and the beauty of the fruit. The
genus comprises a few species of South American
annual or short-lived perennial, herbaceous, rank-
smelling plants in which the many branches are spread-
ing, procumbent, or feebly ascendent and commonly
2 to 6 feet in length, though under some conditions,
particularly in the South and in California, they
grow much longer. They are covered with resinous
viscid secretions and are round, soft, brittle and hairy,
when young, but become furrowed, angular, hard and
almost woody with enlarged joints, when old. The
leaves are irregularly alternate, 5 to 15 inches long,
petioled, odd pinnate, with seven to nine short-stemmed
leaflets, often with much smaller and stemless ones
between them. The larger leaflets are sometimes en-
tire, but more generally notched, cut, or even divided,
particularly at the base.

The flowers are pendant and borne in more or less
branched clusters, located on the stem on the opposite
side and usually a little below the leaves ; the first
cluster on the sixth to twelfth internode from the

2 TOMATO CULTURE

groutul, with une on each second to sixth succeeding
one. The flowers (Fig. 2) are small, consisting of a
yellow, deeply five-cleft, wheel-shaped corolla, with a
very short tube and broadly lanceolate, recurving pet-
als. The calyx consists of five long linear or lanceo-

FIG. 2 TOMATO FLOWERS ENLARGED ABOUT 2^ TIMES. SECTION

OF FLOWER SHOWN AT RIGHT

( Drawn from a photograph by courtesy of Prof. L. C. Corbett)

late sepals, which arc shorter than the petals at first,
but are persistent, and increase in size as the fruits
mature. The stamens, five in number, are borne on
the throat of the corolla, and consist of long, large
anthers, borne on short filaments, loosely joined into
a tube and opening by a longitudinal slit on the in-
side, and this is the chief botanical distinction between

BOX A XV OF Till-: TOMATO 3

this genus and Solannm to which the potato, pepper,
night shade and tobacco belong. The anthers in the
latter genus open at the tip only. The two genera,
however, are closely related and plants belonging to
them are readily united by grafting. The Physalis.
Husk tomato or Ground cherry is quite distinct, botan-
ically. The pistils of the true tomato are short at first,
but the style elongates so as to push the capitate stigma

FIG. 3 — TWO-CELLED
TOMATO

FIG. 4 — THREE-CELLED
TOMATO

through the tube formed b\- the anthers, this usually
occurring before the anthers open for the discharge
of the pollen. The fruit is a two to many-celled berry
with central lleshy placenta and many small kidney-
shaped seeds which are densely covered with short,
stiff hairs, as seen in Figs. 3 and 4.

It is comparatively easy to define the genus with
which the tomato should be classed botanically, but
it is by no means so easy to classify our cultivated va-
rieties into botanical species. We have in cultivation
varieties which are known to have originated in gar-
dens and from the same parentage, but which differ

[ TOMATO CULTURE

from each other so much in liabit of growth, character
of leaf and fruit and other respects, that if they had
been found growing wild they would unhesitatingly
be pronounced different species, and botanists are not
agreed as to how our many and very different garden
varieties should be classified botanically. Some con-
tend that all of our cultivated sorts are varieties of
but two distinct species, while others think they have
originated from several.

Classification. — The author suggests the following
classification, differing somewhat from that sometimes
given, as he believes that the large, deep-sutured fruit
of our cultivated varieties and the distinct pear-shaped
sorts come from original species rather than from
variations of Lycopersicum ccrasiformc:

Currant tomato, Grape tomato, German or Raisin
tomato I Lycopersicum piiiipiiicllifoliuni, L. racenii-
forme) (Fig. 5). — Universally regarded as a distinct
species. Plant strong, growing with many long, slen-
der, weak branches which arc not so hairy, viscid, or
ill-smelling, and never become so hard or woody as
those of the other species. The numerous leaves are
very bright green in color, leaflets small, nearly entire,
with many small stemless ones between the others.
Fruit produced continuous!}- and in great quantity on
long racemes like those of the currant, though they
are often branched. The\ continue to elongate and
blossom until the fruit at the upper end is fully ripened.
Fruit small, less than y^ inch in diameter, spherical,
smooth and of a particularly bright, beautiful red
color which contrasts well with the bright green leaves,
and this abundance of beautifully colored and grace-

150TANV OF THE KJMATO 5

fully poised fruit makes the plant worthy of more
general cultivation as an ornament, though the fruit
is of little value for culinary use. This species, when

FIG. 5 — CURRANT TOM.ATO AND CH.\RACTERISTIC CLUSTERS

pure, has not varied under cultivation, but it readily
crosses with other species and with our garden varie-
ties, and many of these owe their bright red color to
the influence of crosses with the above species.

Cherry tomato I L. ccrasi forme) (Fig. 6). — Plant
vigorous, with stout branches which are distinctly trail-
ing in habit. Leaves Hat or but slightly curled. i^>uit

FIG. 6— RED CHERRY TOMATO

BOTANY Ul- Till': roMATU 7

very abundant, borne in short, branched clusters, globu-
lar, perfectly smooth, with no apparent sutures. From
y2 to ^ inch in diameter and either red or yellow in
color, two-celled with numerous comparatively small,
kidney-shaped seeds. Many of our garden varieties
show evidence of crosses with this species, and by
many it is regarded as the original wild form of all
of our cultivated sorts. These, when they escape from
cultivation and become wild plants, as they often do,
from New Jersey southward, produce fruit which, in
many respects, resembles that of this species in size
and form ; but they are generally more flattened, globe-
shaped, with more or less distinct sutures on the upper
side, and I have never seen any fruit of these wild
plants which could not be readily distinguished from
that of the true Cherry tomato.

Prof. P. H. Rolfs, Director of the Florida experi-
ment station, reports that among the millions of volun-
teer, or wild, tomatoes he has seen growing in the
abandoned tomato fields in Florida, he has never seen
a plant with fruit which could not be easily distin-
guished from that of the true Cherry tomato. Again,
one can. by selection and cultivation, easily develop
from these wild forms plants producing fruit as large
and often practically identical with that of our cul-
tivated varieties, while I have given a true stock of
Cherry tomato most careful cultivation on the best
of soil for 20 consecutive generations without any
increase in size or change in character of the fruit.

Pear (not Plum) tomato (L. pyrifoniic) (Fig. 7).
— Plant exceptionally vigorous, with comparatively few
long, stout stems inclined to ascend. Leaves numerous,

TOMATO CULTURE

broad, flat, with a distinct bluish-green color noticeable,
even in the cotyledons. Fruit abundant, borne in short
branched or straight clusters of five to ten fruits. It
is perfectly smooth, without sutures, and of the shape
of a long, slender-necked pear, not over an inch in
transverse by i^ inches in longitudinal diameter.
When the stock is pure the fruit retains this form very
persistently. The production of egg-shaped or other

FIG. 7 — PEAR-SH.^PED TOMATO

forms is a sure indication of impure stock. They are
bright red, dark }ellow, or light yellowish white in
color, two-celled, with very distinct central placenta
and comparatively few and large seeds. The fruit is
inclined to ripen unevenly, the neck remaining green
when the rest of the fruit is t|uitc ripe. It is less juicy
than that of most of our garden sorts ])nt of a mild
and pleasant flavor. This is considered, by many, to

lO TOMATO CULTURE

be simply a garden variety, but I am inclined to the
belief that it is a distinct species and that the contrary
view comes from the study of the impure and crossed
stocks resulting from crosses between the true Pear
tomato and garden sorts which are frequently sold by
seedsmen as pear-shaped. Many garden sorts — like
the Plum (Fig. 8), the Egg, the Golden Nugget, Vick"s
Criterion, etc. — are known to have originated from
crosses of the Pear and I think that most, if not all,
the garden sorts in which the longitudinal diameter
of the fruit is greater than its transverse diameter owe
this form to crosses with L. pyriformc.

Cultivated varieties (L. esculentiim). — This is com-
monly used as the botanical name of our cultivated
varieties, rather than as the name of a distinct species.
In western South America, however, there is found
growing a wild plant of Lycopersicum which differs
from the other recognized species in being more com-
pact in growth, with fewer branches and larger leaves,
and carrying an immense burden of fruit borne in
large clusters. The fruit is larger than that of the
other species but much smaller than that of our culti-
vated sorts ; is very irregular in shape, always with dis-
tinct sutures, and often deeply corrugated and bright
red in colo:^ . The walls are thin ; the flesh is soft, with
a distinct sharp, acid flavor much less agreeable than
that of our cultivated forms of garden tomatoes.

This has commonly been regarded by botanists as a
degenerate form of our garden tomatoes, rather than
as an original species, but I find that, like L. cerasiforme
and L. pyriforme, it is quite fixed under cultivation,
except as crossed with other s|)ecies or with our gar-

FIG. 9 — ONE OF THE FIRST ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE TOMATO
Poma amoris, (Pomum aureum), {Lycopersicum) , 1581

Fl(.;. lO— AN EARLY ILLUSTRATION OF THE TOMATO
(From Morrison's "Historia Universalis," 1680)

BOTANY OF THE TOMATO 1 3

den varieties, and 1 believe it U) be the original speeies
from which our cultured sorts have been developed,
by crossing and selection. Such crosses probably were
made either naturally or by natives before the tomato
was discovered by Europeans. The earliest prints we
have of the tomato (Figs. 9 and 10) are far more
like the fruit of this plant than that of L. cerasiformc,
and the prints of many of the earliest garden varieties
and of some sorts which are still cultivated in south-
ern Europe, for use in soups, are like it not only in
size and form, but in flavor. These facts make it seem
far more probable that our cultivated sorts have come,
by crossing, between this and other species rather
than by simple development from L. cerasiformc.

Prof. E. S. Goff, of Wisconsin, who has made a
most careful study of the tomato, expressed the same
opinion, writing that it seemed to him that our culti-
vated sorts must have come from the crossing of a
small, round, smooth, sutureless type, with a larger,
deep-sutured, corrugated fruit, like that of the Mam-
moth Chihuahua, but smaller. However this may be,
I think that it is wise to throw all of our cultivated
garden sorts, except the Pear, the Cherry, and the
Grape — which I regard as distinct species — together
under the name of L. csciilentum, even when we know
they have originated by direct crosses with the other
species ; and it is well to classify the upright growing
sorts under the varietal names, L. validum, and the
larger, heavier sorts, as L. graudifolium, as has been
done by Bailey. (Cyclopedia of Horticulture.)

CHAPTER II

History

The garden vegetable known in this country as to-
mato and generally as tomate in continental Europe,
is also known as Wolf-peach and Love Apple in Eng-
land and America, and Liebesapfel in Germany, Pomme
d'Amour in France, Pomo d'oro in Italy, Pomidor
in Poland.

Origin of name. — The name tomato is of South
American origin, and is derived from the Aztec word
xitomatc, or citotoniafc, which is given the fruit of
both the Common tomato and that of the Husk or
Strawberry tomato or Physalis. Both vegetables
were highly prized and extensively cultivated by the
natives long before the discovery of the country by
Europeans, and there is little doubt that many of the
plants first seen and described by Europeans as wild
species were really garden varieties originated with
the native Americans by the variation or crossing of
the original wild species.

Different types now common, according to Stur-
tevant, have become known to, and been described by
Europeans in about the following order :

1. Large yellow, described by Matthiolus in 1554

and called Golden apple.

2. Large red, described by Matthiolus in 1554 and

called Love apple.

HISTORY 15

3. Purple red, described by D"el Obel in 1570.

4. White-fleshed, described by Dodoens in 1586.

5. Red cherry, described by Bauhin in 1620.

6. Yellow cherry, described by Bauhin in 1620.

7. Ochre yellow, described by Bauhin in 165 1.

8. Striped, blotched or visi-colored, described by

Bauhin in 165 1.

9. Pale red, described by Tournefort in 1700.

10. Large smooth, or ribless red, described by

Tournefort in 1700.

11. Bronzed-leaved, described by Blacknell in 1750.

12. Deep orange, described by Bryant in 1783.

13. Pear-shaped, described by Dunal in 1805.

14. Tree tomato, described by Vilmorin in 1855.

15. Broad-leaved, introduced about i860.

The special description of No. 10 by Tournefort in
1700 would indicate that large smooth sorts, like Liv-
ingston's Stone, were in existence fully 200 years ago,
instead of being modern improvements, as is some-
times claimed; and a careful study of old descriptions
and cuts and comparing them with the best examples
of modern varieties led Doctor Sturtevant in 1889 to
express the opinion that they had fruit as large and
smooth as those we now grow, before the tomato came
into general use in America, and possibly before the
fruit was generally known to Europeans. Even the
production of fine fruit under glass is not so modem
as many suppose. In transactions of the London Hor-
ticultural Society for 1820, John Wilmot is reported
to have cultivated under glass in 1818 some 600
plants and gathered from his entire plantings under

l6 TOMATO CULTURE

glass and in borders some 130 bushels of ripe fruit.
It is stated that the growth that year exceeded the
demand, and that the fruit obtained was of extraordi-
nary size, some exceeding 12 inches in circumference
and weighing 12 ounces each. Thomas Meehan states
in Gardeners' Monthly for February, 1880, that on
January 8, of that year, he saw growing in the green-
houses on Senator Cannon's place near Harrisburg,
Pa., at least 1 bushel of ripe fruits, none of which
were less than 10 inches in circumference, — a showing
which compares with the best to be seen to-day.

Throughout southern Europe the value of the fruit
for use in soups and as a salad seems to have been at
once recognized, and it came into quite general use,
especially in Spain and Italy, during the 17th century;
but in northern Europe and England, though the plant
was grown in botanical gardens and in a few private
places as a curiosity and for the beauty of its fruit,
this was seldom eaten, being commonly regarded as
unhealthy and even poisonous, and on this account,
and probably because of its supposed aphrodisiacal
qualities, it did not come into general use in those
northern countries until early in the 19th century.

First mention in America, I find of its being grown
for culinary use, was in Virginia in 178 1. In 1788 a
Frenchman in Philadelphia made most earnest efforts
to get people to use the fruit, but with little success,
and similar efforts by an Italian in Salem, Mass., in
1802, were no more successful. The first record I
can find of the fruit being regularly quoted in the
market was in New Orleans in 1812, and the earliest
records I have been able to find of the seed being

UlSTOKV 17

offered by seedsmen, as that of an edible vegetable,
was bv Gardener and Hipburn in 18 18, and by Lan-
dreth in 1820. Buist's -Kitchen Gardener" says: "In
1828-9 it (the tomato) was almost detested and com-
monly considered poisonous. Ten years later every
variety of pill and panacea was 'extract of tomatoes/
and now (1847) almost as much ground is devoted to
its culture as to the cabbage.'" In 1834 Professor
Dunglison, of the University of Virginia, said: "The
tomato may be looked upon as one of the most whole-
some and valuable esculents of the garden."

Yet, though the fruit has always received similar
commendation from medical men, there has been con-
stant recurring superstition that it is unhealthy. Only
a few years ago there was in general circulation a
statement that an eminent physician had discovered
*hat eating tomatoes tended to develop cancer. This
has been definitely traced to the playful question, asked
as a joke by Dr. Dio Lewis, "Didn't you know that
eating bright red tomatoes caused cancer?" In more
recent years an equally unfounded claim has been
made that tomato seeds were responsible for many
cases of appendicitis and that it was consequently
dangerous to eat the fruit.

I give some quotations for tomatoes in Quincy Hall
Market, Boston, with some for other vegetables, for
comparison. The records show that during the week
ending July 22, 1835, tomatoes were quoted at 50
cents per dozen, cabbage at 50 cents per dozen. For
the week ending September 22, 1835, tomatoes were
quoted at 25 cents per peck, lima beans, i2>< cents
per quart shelled, with comment that tomatoes are in

l8 ' TOMATO CULTURE

much demand and a far greater quantity has been
sold than in previous years. During the week ending
July 22, 1837, tomatoes were quoted at 25 and 50
cents per peck, and the note that they are of good
size and were well ripened and came from gardens
in the vicinity would indicate that they had at that
time early maturing varieties and knew how to grow
them. From about 1835 till the present time the culti-
vation and use of tomatoes have constantly increased
both in this country and in Europe, so that now they
are one of the most largely grown of our garden
vegetables.

A suggestion as to the extent they are now grown
in America is the fact that a single seed grower saved
in 1903 over 20,000 pounds of tomato seed — an amount
sufficient to furnish plants for from 80,000 to 320,000
acres, according to the care used in raising them, the
larger quantity not requiring more care than the best
growers commonly use. A careful estimate made by
the American Grocer shows that in 1903 the packing
of tomatoes by canners in the United States amounted
to 246,775,426 three-pound cans. In addition t(' the
canned tomato, between 200,000 and 250,000 barrels
of catsup stock is put up annually, requiring the prod-
uct of at least 20,000 acres.

It is probable that the area required to produce the
fruit that is used fresh at least equals that devoted to
the production for preserving, which give us from
400,000 to 500,000 acres devoted to this crop each
year in America alone. The fruit is perhaps in more
general use in America than elsewhere, but its culti-
vation and use have increased rapidly in other coun-

HISTORY 19

tries, particularly with the English speaking races.
Large quantities are grown in x\ustralia, and immense
and constantly increasing quantities are grown under
glass in England and adjacent islands, while The
Gardeners' Chronicle states that in 1903 between 600,-
000 and 800,000 pounds of fresh fruit were imported
into England from other countries.

CHAPTER III

General Characteristics of the Plant

In the native home of the tomato, in South Amer-
ica, the conditions of the soil, both as regards composi-
tion and mechanical condition, of the moisture both
in soil and air, and those of temperature and sunlight,
are throughout the growing season not only very
favorable for rapid growth, but are uniformly and
constantly so. Under such conditions there has been
developed a plant which, while vigorous, tenacious of
life, capable of rapid growth and enormously pro-
ductive, is not at all hardy in the sense of ability to
endure untoward conditions either in the character
of soil, of w-ater supply, or of temperature. A check
in the development because of any unfavorable con-
dition is never fully recovered from, but will inevit-
ably affect the total quantity and quality of the fruit
produced, even if subsequent favorable conditions re-
sult in the rapid and vigorous growth of the plant.

I know of an instance where two adjoining fields
belonging to A and B were set with tomatoes, using
plants started in the same hotbed from the same lot
of seed. The soil was of equal natural fertility and
each field received about the same quantity of ma-
nure, though that given A's was all well decomposed
and worked into the soil, while that given B's was
fresh and raw and simply plowed in. A's field was

i;iiXERAL CilAKACTEKJSTlCS OF THE PLANT J I

put into the best possible tilth before setting the plants,
and the management of the plants and their culti-
vation were such as to secure unchecked growth from
the time they were pricked out into cold-frames and
set in the field until the crop was matured. As long as
the plants would permit, the soil was cultivated every
few days and kept in a state of perfect tilth.

B"s field when the plants were set out was a mass
of clods, as it had been plowed, when wet, some time
before and never harrowed but once. The plants had
been crowded forward as rapidly as possible in the
cold-frame, and when set in the field were much higher
than A's, but so soft that they were badly checked
in transplanting and a great many of them died and
had to be reset. The field received but one or two
cultivations during the entire season. The growth
of the plants in B's field was irregular and uneven
instead of steady and uniform as in A's, and though
some of the fruits were quite as large, they were not
as uniform as A's while the yield per acre was not
more than half as much nor the fruit of as good gen-
eral quality. B had difficulty in disposing of his crop
and often had to sell below the market, while A had
no trouble in disposing of his at the highest prices
for the day. B's crop was a financial loss, while A's
returned a most satisfactory profit.

The key to the most successful culture of the tomato
is the securing, from the start to finish, of an un-
checked uniform growth, though it need not neces-
sarily be a rapid one. The failure to do this is, in
my opinion, the principal reason for the compara-
tively small yield usually obtained, which is ver\

22 TOMATO CULTURE

iiiLich less than it would be with better cultural man-
agement. The tomato under conditions which I have
repeatedly found it practicable to secure, not only in
small plantings but in large fields, has proved capable
of producing from i,ooo to- 1,200 or even more bush-
els to the acre, and the possible yield per plant is
enormous.

As early as 1818 the Royal Horticultural Society
of London reports the obtaining of over 40 pounds
of fruit of marketable character from a single vine.
An acre of such plants would give a yield of over
1,800 bushels of fruit, and many similar yields, and
even greater ones, have been recorded for single
plants. The yield commonly obtained, even in favor-
able locations, and by men who have grown tomatoes
all their lives, is more often less than 200 bushels to
the acre than more. The way to secure a better yield
is to study carefully the nature and requirements of
the plants and the adaptation of our cultural practice
to them.

Life habit of the plant. — The tomato could be de-
scribed as a short-lived perennial, but its span of life
is somewhat variable. Under favorable conditions
it will develop from starting seed to first ripe fruit
in from 85 to 120 days of full sunshine with a con-
stant day temperature of from 75 to 90° F., and with
one from 15 to 20° F. lower at night. The plants will
ordinarily continue in full fruit for about 50 to 60
days, after which they generally become so exhausted
by excessive production of fruit and the effects of
diseases to which they are usually subject that their
root action and sap circulation become weaker and

GENER.\L CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLANT 2^

weaker until they die from starvation. From Phila-
delphia southward gardeners expect that spring set
plants will thus exhaust themselves and die by late
summer, and they sow seed in late spring or early
summer for plants on wdiich they depend for late sum-
mer and fall crops.

Under some conditions, particularly in the Gulf
states and in California, tomato plants will not only
grow to a much greater size than normal, but will con-
tinue to thrive and bear fruit for a longer time. Such
a plant grown in Pasadena, Cal., was said to have
been in constant bearing for over lo months. Again,
sometimes plants that have produced a full crop of
fruits will start new sets of roots and leaves and pro-
duce a second and even a third crop, each, however,
being produced on new branches and as a result of
a fresh set of roots, those which produced, the prece-
ding crop having died and disappeared. The period
of development, 85 to 120 days of full sunshine at
a temperature above 75° F., has been given. The
full sunshine and high temperature are essential to
such rapid development, and in so far as there is a
lack of sunshine from clouds or shade, or the day tem-
perature falls below 75° F. the period will be length-
ened, so that in the greater part of the United States
the elapsed time between starting seed to ripened
fruit is usually as much as from 120 to 150 days and
often even longer.

Characteristics of the root. — The roots of the
tomato plant, while abundant in number, are short
and can only gather food and water from a limited
area. A plant of garden bean, for instance, is not

24 TOMATO CULTURE

more than half the size of one of the tomato, but its
roots extend through the soil to a greater distance,
gather plant food from a greater bulk of soil, seem
better able to search out and gather the particular
food element which the plant needs than do those of
the tomato. This characteristic of the latter plant
makes the composition of the soil as to the proportion
of easily available food elements of great importance.
Tomato roots are also exceedingly tender and incapa-
ble of penetrating a hard and compact soil, so that the
condition of the soil as to tilth is of greater impor-
tance with regard to tomatoes than with most garden
vegetables.

Another characteristic of the tomato roots is that
the period of their active life is short. When young
they are capable of transmitting water and nutritive
material very rapidly, but they soon become clogged
and inefficient to such an extent as to result in the
starvation and death of the plant. If the branches of
such an exhausted plant be bent over and covered with
earth they will frequently start new roots and pro-
duce a fresh crop of fruit, or if plants which have
made a crop in the greenhouse be transplanted to the
garden and cut back, a new set of roots will often de-
velop and the plant will produce a second crop of
fruit which, in amount, often equals or exceeds the
first one. But such growths come only from new
roots springing from the stem — never from an exten-
sion of the old root system.

Characteristics of the stem and leaves. — The
growth of the stem and leaves of the young tomato
plant is very rapid and the cellular structure coarse.

GE.NEKAL ClI AKACTERISTKS OF THE PLANT 25

loose and open. A young branch is easily broken and
wlien this is done it shows scarcely any fibrous struc-
ture— simply a mass of coarse cellular matter which
while capable, when \oung-, of transmitting nutritive
matter rapidly, soon becomes clogged and inert. This
structure not only makes the active life of the leaves
short, like that of the roots, but necessitates^ a fresh
growth in order to continue the fruitfulness of the
plant and renders the leaves very susceptible to injury
from bacterial and fungous diseases. The rapid
growth also necessitates an abundance of sunlight.

Characteristics of the blossom. — The inflorescence
of the tomato is usually abundant and it is rare that
a plant does not produce sufficient blooms for a full
crop. The flowers are perfect as far as parts are
concerned (Fig. 2) and in bright, sunny weather
there is an abundance of pollen, but sunlight and
warmth are essential to its maturing into a condition
in which it can easily reach the stigma. The structure
and development of the flower are such that while )
occasionally, particularly in healthy plants out of doors, '
the stigma becomes receptive and takes the pollen as
it is pushed out through the stamen tube by the elon-
gating style, it is more often pushed beyond them be-
fore the pollen matures, so that the pollen has to reach
the stigma through some other means. Usually this
is accomplished by the wind, either directly or through
the motion of the plants.

Under glass it is generally necessary to assist the
fertilization either directly by application or bv mo-
tion of the plant, this latter only being effective in
the middle of a bright sunny day. In the open ground

26 TOMATO CULTURE

in cold, damp weather the flowers often fail of fer-
tilization, in which case they drop, and this is often
the first indication of a failing of the crop on large,
strong vines. I have known of many cases where the
yield of fruit from large and seemingly very healthy
vines was very light because continual rains prevented
the poUenization of the flowers. Such failures, how-
ever, do not always come from a want of pollen but
may result from an over or irregular supply of water
either at the root or in the air, imperfectly balanced
food supply, a sapping of the vitality of the plants
when young, or from other causes. Insects rarely
visit tomato flowers and are seldom the means of their
fertilization.

Characteristics of the fruit. — The fruit of the orig-
inal species from which our cultivated tomatoes have
developed was doubtless a comparatively small two to
many-celled berry, with comparatively dry central
placenta and thin walls. In some species the cells were
indicated b}' distinct sutures, forming a rough or cor-
rugated fruit. It has improved under cultivation by
increase in size, the material thickening of the cell
walls, the development of greater juiciness and richer
flavor and a decrease in the size and dryness of the
placenta, as well as the breaking up of the cells by
fleshy partitions resulting in the disappearance of the
deep sutures and an improvement in the smoothness
and beauty of the fruit. (Fig. ii.)

The quality of the fruit is largely dependent upon
varietal difl^erences, to be spoken of later, but it is
also influenced by conditions of growth — such as the
proportion of the nutritive elements found in the soil.

CEN'KRAL CIIAKACTERISTUS OF TllIC I'l.AN'l'

the proper supply of moisture, the degree and uni-
formity of temperature and, most of all, the amount
of sunlight. Sudden changes of temperature and mois-
ture often result in cracks and fissures in the skin
and flesh, which not only injure the appearance but
affect the flavor of the fruit.

FIG. II — TYPICAL BUXCH OF MODERN TOM.A.TOES
Contrast with Figs. 9 and 10

CHAPTER IV

Essentials for Development

Sunlight. — Abundant and unobstructed sunlight is
the most essential condition for the healthy growth of
the tomato. It is a native of the sunny South and will
not thrive except in full and abundant sunlight. I
have never been able to grow good tomatoes in the
shade even where it is only partial. The entire plant
needs the sunlight. The blossoms often fail to set
and the fruit is lacking in flavor because of shade,
from excessive leaf growth, or other obstruction.

The great difficulty in winter forcing tomatoes under
glass in the North comes from the want of sunlight
during the short days of the winter months. Were it
not for the short winter days of the higher latitudes
limiting the hours of sunshine, tomatoes could be
grown under glass in the northern states to compete
in price, when the better quality of vine-ripened fruits
is considered, with those from the Gulf states. Grow-
ers are learning that tomatoes can be profitably grown
under glass during the longer spring days, and con-
sumers are beginning to appreciate the superior qual-
ity of fruit ripened on the vine over that picked green
and ripened in transit. At no time is this need of
abundance of light of greater importance than when
r the plants are young and, if they fail to receive it, no
subsequent favorable conditions will enable them to
recover fully from its ill effects. It is not so much

liSSKN'lIALS I'OR l)h:\'i:i.()l'.MENT 2()

the want of room for the roots as of Hght for the
leaves that makes the plants which have been crowded
in the seed-beds so weak and unprofitable. '

1 once divided lOO young" tomato plants, about 2
inches high, into four lots of 25 each, numbering them
I, 2, 3 and 4. The plants of lots No. i and 2 were
set equal distance apart in box A, and those of lots
Xo. 3 and 4 in the same way in box B ; both boxes
being about 16 inches wide, 40 inches long and 4 inches
deep. The two boxes were set together across the
side bench of a greenhouse with the outer edge against
a board wall some 2J/2 feet high, so that the plants at
the end of the box near the wall received much less
light than those at the other end. They remained
there about five weeks and then were taken out and
the plants set in the open ground. During the five
weeks box .\, containing lots Xo. i and 2, was
changed, end for end, ever}- da\- so that those two
lots of plants received nearly an equal amount of sun-
light, but box B was not changed so that lot No. 3,
at one end of the box. was constantly near the walk
and in the full light, while lot No. 4, at the other end
of the box, was constantly near the wall and in partial
shade. The effect on the growth of the plants was
very marked. The plants of lot No. 4 were nearly
twice as high, but with much softer stems and leaves
than those of lot X^o. 3. The plants received equal
care when set side by side in the open ground and
at the time the first fruit was gathered seemed of
equal size and vigor, but the total yield of fruit of
lots Xo. 1, 2 and 3 was very nearly the same and in
each case at the rate of over 100 bushels an acre more

30 TOMATO CULTURE

than that from lot No. 4. This is but one of the
scores of experiences which have led me to appre-
ciate, in some degree, the necessity of plenty of sun-
light for the best development of the tomato.

Heat. — The plant thrives best out of doors in a
■^dry temperature of 75 to 85° F., or even up to 95° F.,
if the air is not too dry and is in gentle circulation.
The rate of growth diminishes as the temperature
falls below 75° until at 50° there is practically no
growth ; the plant is simply living at a poor dying
rate and if the growth, particularly in young plants,
is checked in this way for any considerable time they
will never produce a full crop of fruit, even if the
plants reach full size and are seemingly vigorous and
healthy. The plant is generally killed by exposure
for even a short time to freezing temperature, though
young volunteer plants in the spring are frequently
so hardened by exposure that they will survive a
frost that crusts the ground they stand in ; but such
exposure affects the productiveness of the plant, even
if it subsequently makes a seemingly vigorous and
healthy growth. Under glass, plants usually do best
in a temperature somewhat lower than is most de-
sirable out of doors. I think this is due to the inevit-
able obstruction of the sunlight and the lack of per-
fect ventilation.

Moisture. — Although the tomato is not a desert
plant and needs a plentiful supply of water, it suffers
far more frequently, particularly when the plants are
young, from an over-supply than from the want of
water. Good drainage at the root and warm, dry,
sunny air, in gentle motion, are what it delights in.

ESSENTIALS FDR DEVELOl'MENT 3!

Good drainage is essential not only to the best growth J
of the plant but to the production of any fruit of good
quality. So important is this feature that though it
can be readily proved that, other things being equal,
the tomato will give larger yield and better fruit on
well drained clay loam than on sandy soil, yet it is
more generally and more successfully planted on sandy
lands simply because they are usually better drained
and on this account give better crops. While excess
of water in the soil is most injurious to the young
and growing plant, an abundance of it at the time
the fruit swells and ripens is very essential, and a want
of it at that time results in small and imperfect fruit
of poor flavor. Excessive moisture in the air is just
as injurious as at the root. In my personal experience
I have known of more failures in tomato crops, at
least in the northern states, to come from a season of
persistent rains and damp atmosphere at the time
when the plants should be in bloom and setting fruit
than from any other climatic cause.

Food supply. — The tomato is not a gross feeder
nor is the crop an exhaustive one, but the plant is very
particular as to its food supply. It is an epicure ^
among plants and demands that its food shall not only
be to its taste in quality but that it be well served. In
order for the plant to do its best, or even well, it is
essential that the food elements be in the right pro-
portions and readily available. If there is a deficiency
of any single element there will be but a meager '
crop of fruit, no matter how abundant the supply of
the others. An over-supply of an element, especially
nitrogen, is hardly less injurious and wnll actually les-

32 TOMATO CITLTURE

sen the yield of fruit though it may increase the size
of the vine. Not only must the food be in right pro-
portions but in such condition as to be readily avail-
able. Tomato roots have little power to wrest plant
food from the soil. The use of coarse, unfermented
manure is even more unsatisfactory with this than
with other crops. The enormous yields sometimes
obtained by English gardeners from plants grown
under glass result from a supply of food of the right
proportions and in solution, instead of incorporating
it in a crude condition with the soil.

Cultivation. — The tomato is grown in all parts of
the United States and under very different conditions,
not only as to climate and soil but as to the facilities
for growing and handling the crop and the way in
which it is done. What would be ideal conditions of >
soil and the most advantageous methods under some
conditions would not be at all desirable in others. In "/.
some cases the largest possible yield an acre, in oth-
ers fruit at the lowest cost a bushel, or at the earliest
possible date, or in a continuous supply and of the
best quality, is the greatest desideratum. It is im-
possible to give specific instructions which would be
applicable to all these varying conditions and re-
quirements ; so I give general cultural directions for
maximum crops with variations suggested for spe-
cial conditions and requirements, and then the reader
may follow those which seem best suited to his indi-
vidual conditions.

CHAPTER V

Selection of Soil for Maximum Crop

Large yields of tomatoes have been, and can be,
obtained from soils of varying composition from a
cumbo prairie, a black marsh muck, or a stiff, tena-
cious clay, to one of light drifting sand, provided
other conditions, such as drainage, tilth and f ert ht>
are favorable. The Connecticut experiment station
and others have secured good results from plants grown
under glass in a soil of sifted coal ashes and muck
or even from coal ashes alone, the requisite plant food
being supplied in solution. But a maximum crop
could never, and a full one very seldom, be Produced
on a soil, no matter what its composition, which could
not be, or was not put into and kept in a good state
of tilth, or on one which was poorly drained, sodden
or sour, or which was so leachy that it was impossible
to retain a fair supply of moisture and of plant food
Of the lo largest yields of which I have personal
knowledge and which ran from i.ooo to 1,200 bushels
of fruit (acceptable for canning and at least two-
thirds of it of prime market quality) an acre, four
were grown on soils classed as clay loam, two on
heavy clay-one of which was so heavy that clay for
making brick was subsequently taken from the very
spot which Yielded the most and best fruit-one on
vvhat had been a black ash swamp, one on a sandy
muck, one on a sandy loam and one on a light sana

34 TOAfATC) Cri-TURE

made very rich by heavy annual nianurhig for sev-
eral years. They w^ere all perfectly watered and
drained, in good heart, liberally fertilized with ma-
nures of proved right proportions for each field, and
above all, the fields were put into and kept in perfect
tilth by methods suited to each case ; while the plants
used were of good stock and so grown, set and culti-
vated that their growth was never stopped or hardly
checked for even a day. These conditions as to soil
and culture, together with seasons of exceptionally
favorable weather, resulted in uniformly large crops
on these widely different soils.

The composition of the soil, then, as to its propor-
tions of sand or clay is of minor importance as regards
a maximum yield or as to quality of the fruit, except
as it afifects our ability to put and keep the soil in good
physical condition. The tomato crop, however, par-
ticularly when the plants are trimmed and trained to
stakes, as is the usual practice in the South, as seen
in Fig. 12, with crops grown for early shipment, neces-
sitates in the trimming and training of the plants and
the gathering of the fruit when it is in the right degree
of maturity for shipment a great deal of trampling of
the surface regardless of whether it is wet or dry.
Consequently if the surface soil has any considerable /
proportion of clay there is danger of compacting and
even puddling it by working when wet, to the great ^
detriment of the crop. Again, a more or less sandy
surface soil can be much more easily worked than one
with a large proportion of clay. For these reasons (
our choice of a soil for the lowest cost a bushel and
probably for a maximum yield should be a rich sandy

36 TOMATO CULTURE

or sandy loam surface soil overlying a well-drained
clay sub-soil. I would prefer one which was originally
covered with a heavy growth of beech and maple tim-
ber, though I should want it to be "old land" at the
time. Tomatoes do not succeed as well on prairie
soils, particularly if the\" arc at all heavy, as they do
on timbered lands, but one need not despair of a
profitable crop of tomatoes on any soil which would
give a fair crop of corn or of cotton.

For early-ripening fruit. — Sometimes the profit and
satisfaction from a tomato crop depend more largely
upon the earliness of ripening than upon the amount
of yield or cost of growing. In such cases a warm,
sandy loam, or even a distinctly sandy soil, is to be
preferred, as this is apt to be warmer and the fruit
will be matured much earlier on it than on a heavier
soil. It is essential, however, that it be well drained
and warm. Often lands classed as sandy are really
colder than some of those classed as clay, and such
soils should be carefully avoided if early maturity
is important.

For the home garden. — Here we seldom have a
choice, but no. one need despair and abandon efifort,
no matter what the soil may be, for it is quite possible
to raise an abundant home supply on any soil and that,
too, without inordinate cost and labor. Some of the
most prolific plants and the finest fruits I have ever
seen were grown in a village lot which five years before
hatl been filled in to a depth of 3 to 10 feet with clay,
coal ashes and refuse from a brick and coal yard. In
another instance magnificent fruit was grown in a
garden where the soil was originally made up chiefly

SELECTION OF SOIL 1X)K MAXIMUM CROP ^"J

of sawdust mixed with sand, drawn on a founda-
dation of sawmill edgings so as to raise it above the
water of a swamp. Where one has to contend with
such conditions he should make an effort to create
a friable soil with a supply of hunms by adding the
material needed. A very few loads, sometimes even
a single load, of clay or saaid will greatly change the
character of the soil of a sufficient area to grow the
one or two dozen plants necessary for a family supply.
In the two cases mentioned, the owner of the first
named garden used both sand and sawdust to lighten
his soil, while the second drew a great many loads of
clay on his.

Growing under glass. — I would make up a soil
composed of about three parts rotted sod, two or
three parts of well-rotted stable manure (and it is very
important that it be well decomposed) and one part
either of coarse, sharp sand, sandy loam or clay loam,
according as the sod soil is light or heavy, the aim
being to form a rich, light, open soil rather than one
which is as heav\- and compact as desirable for some
plants. If sod soil is not available, of course, garden
loam can be substituted, but it is very important that
the soil be thoroughly mixed, and desirable that it be
l^repared sometime before it is to be used. Some
growers use the same soil for several crops, simply
adding some fresh manure ; but, if so used, it is im-
portant that it be stirred and thoroughly re-mixed and
sterilized.

CHAPTER VI

Exposure and Location

In sections where there is danger of the plants
being killed by early fall frosts before they have
ripened their entire crop, exposure of the field is
sometimes of importance in determining the market-
able }'ield.

A gentle inclination to the south, with a protection
of higher land or timber on the sides from which
frost or high winds are most likely to come, is the
best. A steep descent to the south, shut in by high
land to the east and west, so as to form a hot pocket,
is not favorable for a maximum crop although it may
give a smaller yield of early ripening fruit ; nor is a
small field entirely surrounded by forest desirable.

I once knew of a field, of about two acres, sloping
to the south and entirely surrounded by heavy timber,
on which two or three tomato crops were failures when
other fields on the same farm gave large yields, but
after the timber on the south and east had been cut
away this field generally gave the largest yield in the
neighborhood.

Location. — While exposure is in some cases an im-
portant factor in determining the total yield an acre,
and so the cost, the location of the field as regards
distance from marketing point and the character of
the roads between them is of far greater importance
in determining the cost and profit of crop, but one

EXPOSURE AND LOCATION 39

which is very often disregarded. The marketable
product of an acre of tomatoes weighs from 3 to 30
tons, which is not only more than that of most farm
crops, but the product is of such character that its
value is easily destroyed by long hauls over ordinary
roads. It has to be marketed within a day or two of
the time it is in prime condition, regardless of the
conditions of the roads or weather ; so that it is quite
deceptive to estimate the cost of delivery at the same
rate a ton, as for potatoes or wheat, for it always costs
more, and sometimes several times more, to deliver
tomatoes than it would to deliver the same weight of
less perishable crops. In most cases the cost of pick-
ing and delivery is one of the most important factors
in determining profit and loss, particularly when the
crop is grown for canning factories, where one often
has to wait for hours for his team to unload. These
conditions make it very important that the field be
located within a short distance of, and connected by
good roads with the point of delivery.

Early maturing fruit. — Where early maturity is
the great desideratum the exposure of the field is
often very important. It should, first of all, be such
as to secure comparative freedom from spring frosts
so as to permit of early setting of the plants and the
full benefit of the sunshine as well as protection from
cold winds. There is often a great difiference in these
respects between fields quite near each other. Profes-
sor Rolfs, of Florida, mentions a case where the toma-
toes in a field sloping to the southeast and protected
on the north and west by a strip of oak timber were
uninjured by a spring frost that killed not only all

40 TOMATO CLLTLKt

the plants in neighboring tields. but those in the same
field farther away from the protecting timber. Such
spots should be sought out and utilized, as often they
can be used to great advantage. Immediate prox-
imity to large bodies of water is sometimes advanta-
geous in the South, but in the North it is often disad-
vantageous for early fruit because of the chilling of
the air and the increased danger of spring frosts, al-
though affording protection from those of early fall.
Here, too, proximity of field to shipping point and
distance and transjjortation rate to market are very
important factors aft'ecting profit on the crop.

The home garden. — The south side of buildings or
of tight fences and walls often furnishes a most de-
sirable place for garden tomatoes, but the plants
should be set at least 6 to lo feet from the protec-
tion and not so as to be trained upon or much shadeil
by them, as the disadvantage of shutting oft' the light
and circulation of the air, even from the north, would
more than overbalance anything gained by the
protection.

Growing under glass. — In this country tomatoes
are seldom grown under glass except during the darker
winter months and the exposure of the house ; the
form of the roof and the method of glazing which
will give the greatest possible light, are of importance,
for tomatoes can not be profitably grown in a dark
house. Just how the greatest amount of light may
be made available in any particular case will depend
upon local conditions, but ever\ eft'ort should be made
to secure the most unobstructed sunlight possible and
for the greatest number of hours each day.

EXPOSURE AND LOCATION 4 1

Previous crop and condition. — In field culture to-
matoes should not follow tomatoes or potatoes. Both
of these crops make use of large quantities of pot-
ash, and although a small part of that used by the
plants is taken from the field in the crop, they in-
evitably reduce the proportion of this element in the
soil — that is, in such condition as to be readily avail-
able for the succeeding crop. It is true that the
deficiency in potash may be supplied, but it is not so
easy to supply it in a condition in which it is possible
for the roots of the tomato to take it in. Unlike pota-
toes, tomatoes do not do w^ell on new land, whether
it be newly cleared timber lands or new breaking of
prairie. Clover leaves the land in better condition for
tomatoes than any other of the commonly grown farm
crops, w^hile for second choice I prefer one of peas,
beans, corn, or wheat in the order named.

One of the most successful tomato growers I know
of, whose soil is a rich, dark clay loam, prepares for
the crop, as follows : Very late in the fall or early
in the spring he gives a clover sod a heavy dressing
of manure and plows it under. In the spring he pre-
pares the ground by frequent cultivation and plants
it with early sweet corn or summer squash. At the
time of the last cultivation of these crops he sows clo-
ver seed, covering it with a cultivator having many
small teeth, and rarely fails to get a good stand and
a good growth of young clover before the ground
freezes. In the spring he plows this under, running
the plow as deep as possible and following in the fur-
row with a sub-soiler which stirs, but does not bring
the sub-soil to the surface. He then g-ives the field a

42 TOMATO CULTURE

heavy dressing with wood ashes and puts it into the
best possible tilth before planting his tomatoes. This
grown usually harvests at least 500 bushels to the acfe
and has made a crop o£ over 1,000 bushels.

Early market. — In some sections of the South where
the soil is light and the growers depend almost wholly
on the use of large quantities of commercial fertil-
izer, they seem to meet with the best success by using
the same field for several successive crops, but in some
places they succeed best with plantings following a
crop of cowpeas or other green soiling crops plowed
utjder, with a good dressing of lime.

CHAPTER VII

Fertilizers

The experiences and opinions of different garden-
ers and writers vary greatly as to the amount and
kind of fertiUzer necessary for the production of the
maximum crop of tomatoes. If the question were as to
the growth of vine all. would agree that the more fer-
tilizer used and the richer the sod, the better. Some
crowers act as if this were equally true as to frm ,
while others declare that one can easily use too much
fertilizer and get the ground too rich not only for a
maximum but for a profitable crop of fruit. I find
that the amount an acre recommended by successful
orowers varies from 40 tons of well-rotted stable
manure, supplemented by 1,000 pounds of complete
fertilizer and 1,000 pounds of unleached ashes, to one
of only 300 pounds of potato tertihzer.

In my own experience the largest yield that I can
recall was produced on what would be called rich
land, and the application of fertilizer for the tomato
crop was not in excess (unless possibly of potash)
of that of the usual annual dressing. I think that
in preparing a soil for tomatoes, as m selecting so-
cial accpiaintances, the -new rich" are to be avoided.
\ soil which is rich because of judicious manuring
and careful cropping for many years can scarcely be
too rich, while one that is made rich by a single appli-
cation of fertilizer, no matter how well proportioned.

44 . TOMATO cri/iTKi-:

may give even a smaller yield of fruit because of its
excessive use. Again, the proportions of the various
food elements vary greatly in different locations.

Professor Halstead finds that in his section of New
Jersey the liberal use of nitrate of soda increases the
yield and improves the quality, while in some localities
of Xew York, Ohio, and the West, growers find that
the yield of first-class fruit was actually lessened by
its use. In some sections of the South liberality in
the use of phosphates determines the amount and the
quality of the crop, while at other points it seems to
be of little value. In my own experience the liberal
application of potash, particularl\' in the form of wood
ashes, has more often given good results than the ap-
plication of any other special fertilizer.

If called upon to name the exact quantity and kind
of manure for tomatoes, without any knowledge of
the soil or its previous condition, I would say 8 to lo
tons of good stable manure worked into the soil as
late as possible in the fall or during the winter and
early spring and 300 to 600 pounds of commercial
fertilizer, of such composition as to furnish 2 per cent,
nitrogen, 6 per cent, phosphoric acid and 8 per cent,
potash scattered and worked into the row about the
time that the plants are set. The use of a large pro-
portion of nitrogen tends to rank growth of vine and
soft, watery fruit. The use of a large proportion of
phosphoric acid tends to produce soft fruit with less
distinctly acid flavor : of potash, to smaller growth of
vine and firm but more acid fruit.

I think that even more tkan with most crops it will
be well for the farmer to experiment to determine the

fertilizi:rs 45

best and most economical fertilizer lor his soil, set-
ting aside five to ten plots of 1 to 4 square rods each
and apply nitrate of soda, muriate of potash, wood,
ashes, and phosphate alone and in different combina-
tions. The results will suggest the combination which
he can use to best advantage. In the majority of
cases, however, where the soil is reasonably rich, ex-
penditures for putting the ground in the best possible
state of tilth will give larger returns than those for
manures in excess of that which the land has usually
received in the regular rotation for ordinary farm
crops.

For the home garden. — Usually a dressing of wood
ashes up to a rate of i bushel to the square rod, well
worked into the soil before the plants are set, and oc-
casionally watering with liquid manure, will generally
give the best returns of any special fertilization, it
being assumed that the garden has been well enriched
with stable manure.

Tomatoes under glass. — Some growers recommend
frequent waterings with -liquid manure ; others a sur-
face dressing of sheep manure ; still others a mulch of
moderately well decayed stable manure. Plants grow-
ing under glass, particularly in pots or boxes, seem
to be benefitted by so heavy a dressing that if applied
to plants growing outside it would be likely to give
excessive growth of vine with but little fruit.

CHAPTER VIII

Preparation of the Soil

The proper preparation of the soil before setting
the plants is one of the most essential points in suc-
cessful tomato culture. The soil should be put into
the best possible physical condition and to the greatest
practicable depth. How this can be best accomplished
will vary greatly with different soils and the facilities
at the command of the planter. My practice on a
heavy, dry soil is to plow shallow as early in the
spring as the ground is fit to work, and then work
and re-work the surface so as to make it as fine as
possible.

If I am to use any manure which is at all coarse,
it is well worked in at this time. A week or lo days
before I expect to set the plants I again plow, and to
as great a depth as practicable, without turning up
much of the sub-soil, and if this has not been done
within two years, follow in the furrows with a sub-soil
plow which loosens, but does not bring the sub-soil to
the surface. Then I work and re-work the surface, at
the same time working in any dressing of well-rotted
manure, ashes or commercial fertilizer that I want to
use. I never regret going over the field again, if by
so doing I can improve its condition in the least. On a
lighter soil it might be better to compact rather than
loosen as much as would give the best results with
clay, but always and everywhere the soil should be

PREPAKAJIOX OF 'I 1 1 K SOIL 47

made fine, friable and uniform in condition, to the
greatest depth possible.

One of the most successful growers has said that
if he could afford to spend but two days' time on a
patch of tomatoes he would use a day and a half of
the two days in fitting the ground before he set the
plants. It is my opinion that any working of the
ground that serves to get it into better mechanical
condition, if done economically, will not only increase
the yield, but to such an extent as to lower the cost a
bushel. T. B. Terry's teaching of the necessity for
working and re- working the soil, if one would have
the largest crops of potatoes of the best quality, is
even more applicable to the culture of tomatoes.

Home garden. — Here there is no excuse for setting
plants in hard, lumpy soil. It should be worked and
re-worked, not simply once or twice, but once or twice
after it has been thoroughly worked. In short, the
tomato bed should be made as friable as it is possible
to make it and to as great a depth as the character of
the subsoil will permit.

Under glass. — I would strongly advise that soil for
tomatoes, whether it is to be used in solid beds or in
pots or boxes, be thoroughly sterilized by piling it not
over 15 inches deep or wide over iron pipes perfo-
rated with two lines of holes about one-sixteenth inch
in diameter and 2 inches apart and filled with steam
for at least a half hour. It can be sterilized, but far less
effectively, by thorough wetting with boiling water.
It should always be well stirred and aired before the
plants are set in it.

Starting plants. — From about the latitude of New

48 TOMATO CULTURE

fork city southward, it is possible to secure large
yields from plants grown from seed sown in place in
the field, and one often sees volunteer plants which
have sprung up as weeds carrying as much or more
fruit than most carefully grown transplanted ones
beside them. In many sections tomatoes are grown
in large areas for canning factories, and as a farm
rather than a market garden crop, individual farmers
planting from 10 to I GO acres ; and to start and trans-
plant to the field the 25,000 to 30,000 plants necessary
for a ten-acre field seems a great undertaking. To-
mato plants, however, when young, are of rather
weak and tender growth, and need more careful cul-
ture than can be readily given in the open field; and,
again, the demand of the market, even at the canning
factories, is for delivery of the crop earlier than it can
be produced by sowing the seed in the field.

For these reasons it is almost the universal custom
of successful growers to use plants started under glass
or in seed-beds where conditions of heat and mois-
ture can be somewhat under control. I believe, how-
ever, that the failure to secure a maximum yield is
more often due to defective methods of starting, hand-
ling and setting the plants than to any other single
cause. In sections where tomatoes are largely grown
there are usually men who make a business of starting-
plants and offering them for sale at prices running
from $1 or even as low as 40 cents, up to $8 and $10
a 1,000, according to their age and the way they are
grown ; but generally, it will be found more advan-
tageous for the planter to start his plants on or near
the field where thev are to be grown.

PREPARATION OF THE SOIL 49

Tomato plants from cuttings may be easily grown,
but such plants, when planted in the open ground, do
not yield as much fruit as seedlings nor is this apt
to be of so good quality ; so that, in practice, seed-
lings only are used for outside crops. Under glass,
plants from cuttings do relatively better and some
growers prefer them, as they commence to fruit earlier
and do not make so rank a growth.

Seedlings can be most easily started and grown, at
least up to the time of pricking out, in light, well-
ventilated greenhouses, and many large growers have
them for this specific ]uirpose. Houses for starting
tomato plants should be so situated as to be fully ex-
posed to the sun and not shaded in any way ; be pro-
vided with heating apparatus by which a night tem-
perature of (k) and up to one of 80° F. in the day
can be maintained even in the coldest weather and
darkest days likely to occur for 60 to 90 days before
the plants can be safely set out in the open field ; and
the houses should be well glazed and ventilated.

Houses well suited for this purpose are often built
of hotbed sash with no frame but a simple ridge-board
and sides i or 2 feet high, head room being gained by
a central sunken path and the sash so fastened in place
that they may be easily lifted to give ventilation or
entirely removed to give full exposure to svnishine.
or for storing when the house is not needed. Hotbed
sash 3x6 feet with side-bars projecting at the ends
to facilitate fastening them in place are usually kept
by dealers, w'ho ofifer them at from $1.50 to $3 each,
according to the quality of the material used.

A hot water heating apparatus is the best, but often

50 TOMATO CULTURE

one can use a brick furnace or an iron heating stove,
connected with a flue of sewer or drain-pipe that will
answer very well and cost much less. It requires but
6 to lo square feet of bench to start plants enough for
an acre, and a house costing only from $25 to $50
will enable one to grow plants enough for 20 acres up
to the stage when they can be pricked out into sash
or cloth-covered cold-frames in which they can be
grown on to the size best suited for setting in the
field. When a grower plants less than 5 acres it is
often better for him to sow his seed in flats or shallow
boxes and arrange to have these cared for in some
neighboring greenhouse for the 10 to 20 days before
they can be pricked out.

CHAPTER iX

Hotbeds and Cold-frames

Plants can be advantageously started and even
grown on to the size for setting in open ground in
hotbeds. In building these of manure it is important
to select a spot where there is no danger of standing
water, even after the heaviest rains, and it is well to
remove the soil to a depth of 6 inches or i foot from
a space about 2 feet larger each way than the bed
and to build the manure up squarely to a hight of
2 to 3 feet. It is also very important that the bed of
manure be of uniform composition as regards mix-
ture of straw and also as to age, density and mois-
ture, so as to secure uniformity in heating. This can
be accomplished by shaking out and evenly spreading
each forkful and repeatedly and evenly tramping down
as the bed is built up. Unless this work is well and
carefully done the bed will heat and settle unevenly,
making it impossible to secure uniformity of growth
in different parts.

Hotbed frames should be of a size to carry four to
six 3x6-foot sash, and made of lumber so fastened
together that they can be easily knocked apart and
stored when not in use. They should be about 10
inches high in front and 16 or 18 inches at the back,
care being taken that if the back is made of two boards
one of them be narrow and at the bottom so that the
crack between them can be covered by banking up

TOMATO CULTURE

with manure or earth. In placing them on the manure
short pieces of board should be laid under the corners
to prevent their settling in the manure unevenly. I
prefer to sow the seed in flats or shallow boxes filled
with rich but sandy and very friable soil, and set these
on a layer of sifted coal ashes covering the manure
and made perfectly level, but many growers sow on
soil resting directly on the manure; if this is done the

FIG. 13 THKEE-S.\SH HOTBED

soil should be light and friable and made perfectly
level. A perspective view of a three-sash hotbed is
given in Fig. 13, and of a cross-section in Fig. 14.

In some sections, particularly in the South, it is not
always easy to procure suitable manure for making
hotbeds, so these are built to be warmed by flues un-
der ground, but I think it much better where a fire is
to be used that the sash be built into the form of a
house. A hotbed of manure is preferred to a house
by .some because of its supplying imiform and moist
bottom heat — and one can easily give abundant air ;

HOTBEDS AND COLD-1'KAMES

but the sash can be buih into the form of a house
at but Httle more expense, and it has the great advan-
tage of enabling one to work among the plants in any
weather, while, if properly built, any desired degree
of heat and ventilation can be easily secured. Except
when very early ripening fruit is the desideratum,
plants started with heat but pricked out and grown
in cold-frames without it, but where they can be pro-
tected during cold nights and storms, will give better

FIG. 14 — CROSS-SECTIOX OF HOTBED

results than those grown to full size for the field in
artificial heat.

Cold-frames. — In locations where tomatoes are much
grown large areas are devoted to cold-frames covered
either by sash or cloth curtains. Sash give much bet-
ter protection from cold and on this account are more
desirable, particularly where very early fruiting is
wanted, but their first cost is much greater and the
labor of attending to beds covered by them is much
more than where cloth is used. Sash-covered beds
should be of single width and run east and west, but

TOMATO CULTURE

if the beds are covered with cloth it is better that they
be double width (12 feet) and run north and south.
The front of the single and the sides of the double
width beds should be 8 to 10 inches high, held firmly
erect by stakes and perfectly parallel, both horizon-
tally and vertically, with the back or with the central

^5*-.

FIG. 15 — COLD-FRAMES ON HILL-SIDE

support. This should be 6 inches higher than the
front. The cross strips, when sash are used, should
be made of a 3-inch horizontal and a i^-inch vertical
strip of I -inch lumber nailed together very firmly in
the form of an inverted T, the vertical pieces project-
ing I inch at each end and resting on the front and
back of the bed and forming supports and guides for
the sash. Some growers use vertical strips as heavy
as 2x3 or 4 inches for stepping across the beds. When

HOTBEDS AND COLD-FRAMES 55

the plants are to be taken to the field, the sash and
guides can be easily removed. (Fig. 15.)

Ground to be covered with cold-frames should be
made very friable and rich by repeated plowing and
working in of a liberal dressing of well-rotted stable
manure and wood ashes. In southwestern New Jer-
sey, where immense areas of early tomatoes are grown,
the soil of the beds for a depth of about 6 inches is
removed and a layer 3 to 5 inches deep of well-rotted
stable manure is placed in. That made of a mixture
of manure from horses, cattle and hogs is preferred.
It is important that the manure be so well rotted that
it will not heat, and so dry that it will not become
pasty when tramped into a firm, level layer. On this
they place a layer of nearly 3 inches deep of rich,
friable, moderately compact soil and prick out the
plants into this. The roots soon bind the manure and
soil together and by cutting through the manure so as
to form blocks one can carry the plants to the fields
with but very little disturbance of the root.

Cloth covers for beds should be made of heavy, un-
bleached sheeting or light duck, and it is better that
the selvage run up and down the bed rather than
lengthwise. The cloth is torn into lengths of about
13 feet and then sewn together with a narrow double-
stitched flat seam so as to form a sheet 13 feet wide
and about 8 inches longer than the bed. The edges are
tacked every foot to the strips about 2 inches wide by
^ inch thick with beveled outside edges and laid per-
fectly in line. A second line of strips is then nailed
to the first so as to break joints with it and so that the
two will form a continuous roller about a foot longer

TOMATO CULTURE

than the bed with the edge of the curtain firmly fas-
tened in its center. The center of the curtain is se-
cured to the central rid^e of the bed by strips of lath.
When rolled up, the rollers are held in place by loops
of rope around their ends and when they are down

FIG. l6 — TRANSPLANTING TOMATOES UNDER CLOTH-COVERED

FRAMES

(Photo by Prof. W. G. Johnson)

they are held by similar loops to the notched tent-pins
driven into the ground or to wooden buttons fastened
to the sides and ends of the frame as shown in Fig. iC).
Cloth covers are sometimes dressed with oil, but
this is not to be recommended, though it is an advan-
tage to have them wet occasionalh with a weak solu-
tion of copper sulphate or with sea water as a preser-

110'l'IU:i)S AM) COl-D-l-KAMES 57

vative and to i)rt'Vfnt mildew. Such covers, well
cared for. may last five }ears or be of little use after
the first, depending" upon the care given them. They
can be made from 50 to 200 feet long- and two men
can roll them up or down very quickl\-.

When cloth covers are used the supporting cross-
strips should not be over 3 inches wide nor more than
3 feet apart ; sometimes the strips are made to bind the
sideboard and ridge together b\- means of short pieces
of hoop iron or of barrel hoop. These are so placed
and nailed as to hold the upper edge of sideboards and
of the central ridge flush with the cross-strips, thus
forming a smooth surface for cloth to rest on and
enabling one easily to "knock down" and remove the
frames to facilitate the taking of the plants from the
bed to the field and the storing of the frames for
another season.

Flats for starting seeds. — Any shallow box may be
used or the plants sown directly in the beds without
them, but flats of a uniform size are to be preferred —
these will pack well on tlie greenhouse shelves ; or
in the hotbed we make them with ",s inch thick ends
and Yz inch thick sides and bt)ttom. the latter if of a
single board having four half-inch holes for drainage
and in any case having two narrow strips about ^
inch thick nailed across their bottoms so as to allow
drainage water to escape freely when the boxes are
set on hard, cool floors. Two or three such boxes,
351/ inches long, 12 inches wide and 3 inches deep,
will be sufficient to start plants enough for an acre.
1 like to use similar boxes only 4 inches deep for grow-
ing the plants after they are pricked out, particularly

5<^ TOMATO CULTURE

if this is to be done in a greenhouse, as by turning
them we can equahze exposure to Hght and thus dis-
tribute the plants in the field where they are to be set
with the least possible disturbance. One would need
nearly 60 such boxes for plants enough for an acre.
On account of the lessened necessity for watering
when plants are set in beds rather than in boxes,
many growers prefer to grow their plants in that way.

CHAPTER X

Starting Plants

This has been the subject of a vast amount of horti-
cultural writing, and the practice of different grow-
ers, and in different sections, varies greatly. I give
the methods I have used successfully, together with
reasons for following them, but it may be well for the
reader to modify them to suit his own conditions and
requirements.

Largest yield. — Some 45 to 50 days before plants
can be safely set in the open field the flats in which
the seed is to be sown should be filled with light, rich,
friable soil, it being important that its surface be made
perfectly level, and that it be compact and quite moist,
but not so wet as to pack under pressure. Sow the
seed in drills ^ inch deep and 2 to 3 inches apart at
the rate of 10 to 20 to the inch ; press the soil evenly
over them, water and place in the shade in an even tem-
perature of 80 to 90° F. As soon as the seeds begin
to break soil, which they should do in three to four
days, place in full light and temperature of 75 to 80°,
keeping the air rather close so as to avoid necessity
of watering. After a few days reduce the tempera-
ture to about 65° and give as much air as possible.
Some growers press a short piece of 2-inch joist into
the soil of the benches, so as to form trenches 2 inches
wide and about ^ inch deep, and so spaced as to be
under the center of each row of glass, their sash being

6o TOMATO CliLTLiRE

mostly made of five-inch glass. In this, by using a
little tin box with holes in the top, like those of a pep-
per-box, they scatter seeds so that they will be nearly
^ to 34 inch apart, over the bottom of the 2-inch
wide trench, and then cover. This has the advantage
of evenly spacing the plants and so locating the rows
that the plants will be little liable to injury from drip.
Young tomato plants are ver}- sensitive to over-sup-
ply of water and some of the most successful growers
do not water at all until the plants are quite large and
then only when necessary to prevent wilting. In lO to
15 days, or as soon as the central bud is well started,
the plants should be pricked out, setting them 3 to 6
inches apart, according to the size we expect them to
reach before they go into the field ; 5 inches is the most
common distance used. I think it better to set the
full distance apart at first, not to transplant a second
time. It is very important that this pricking out should
be done when the plants are young and small, though
many successful growers wait until they are larger.
The soil in which they are set, whether it be in boxes
or beds, should be composed of about three parts gar-
den loam, two parts well-rotted stable manure and one
part of an equal mixture of sand and leaf mold, though
the proportion of sand used should be increased if
the garden loam is clayey. The soil in the seed-boxes
or in the beds, when the seedlings are taken up, should
be in such condition, and the plants be handled in
such a way that nearly all the roots, carrying with
them many particles of soil, are saved. The plants
should be set a little, and but a little, deeper than they
stood in the seed-box and the soil so pressed about the

STARTlNii 1 "LA NTS

roots, particularly at their Icnvc-r end. that the plants
can not be easily pulled out.

Where plants are set in beds the work can be facil-
itated by the use of a "spotting-board" ( Fig. 17). This
should be about i foot in width, and have pegs about
3 inches long, ^ inch in diameter at the base and taper-
ing to a point, fastened into the board the distance
apart the jilants are to be set. It should also have
narrow projectic^ns carrying a single peg nailed to the

A . L-, L, L-, L. L. L. L-. L-. L

FIG. 17 SPOTTIN(;-B()AKl) FOR USE IN COLD-FRAMES

top of board at each end, so that when these pegs are
placed in the end holes of the last row the first row
of pegs in the "spotting board" will be the right dis-
tance from the last row of holes or plants. By stand-
ing on this, while setting plants in one set of holes,
holes for another set are formed. If the conditions of
soil, air and plants are right and the work is well done.
the plants will show little tendency to wilt, and it is
better to prevent their doing so by shading, rather than
by watering, though the latter should be resorted to if
necessary. \\'hen plans are set in beds, some growers
remove the soil to a depth of about 6 inches and put
in a laver of about 2 inches of sifted coal ashes, made
perfectly level, and then replace the soil. This con-
fines the roots to the surface and enables one to se-
cure nearly all of them when transplanting. The

TOMATO CULTURE

plants should be well established in 24 hours and
after this the more light and air that can be given,
»vithout the temperature falling below 40° F. or sub-
jecting the plants to cold, dry wind, the better.

One can hardly overstate the importance to the
healthy growth of the young tomato plant of abundant
sunshine, a uniform day temperature of from 60 to
80° F., or of the ill effects of a variable temperature.

FIG. 18 SPOTTIN(_,-i;u.\KL) I'UR USE ON FLAT

(From W. G. Johnson)

particularly if it be the result of cold, dry winds, or
of a wet, soggy soil, the effect of over- watering.
These points should be kept in mind in caring for the
plants, and every effort made to secure, as far as pos-
sible, the first named conditions and to avoid the lat-
ter. The frames, whether they be covered with sash
or cloth, but more particularly if with sash in sun-
shine and with curtains in dull da\s. should be opened
so as to prevent their becoming too hot, and so as to
admit air. And in a greenhouse full ventilation should

STARTING PLANTS 63

be given whenever it is possible to do so without ex-
posure to too low a temperature. If the plants are
in boxes and on greenhouse shelves, it is important
that these be turned end for end every few days to
equalize exposure to light and give full exposure to
the sun. The plants should be watered only when nec-
essary to prevent wilting, and the beds should be cov-
ered during heavy rains. A "spotting-board" for use
on flats is seen in ¥ig. i8.

The most unfavorable weather conditions are bright
sun combined with a cold wind, and cold storms of
drizzling rain and frosty nights. Loss from the latter
cause may often be prevented by covering the beds
with coarse straw, which should always be provided
for use in an emergency. Many growers provide a
second curtain — an old one answers very well — to
throw over the straw-covered beds. Beds so covered
will protect the plants from frost in quite severe
weather. Watering should especially be avoided for
nearly three days before setting in fields ; but six to
twelve hours before it is well to water thoroughly,
though not so as to make the soil at all muddy. About
five days after pricking out and again about five days
before the plants are to go into the field and five days
after they are set, they should be sprayed with Bor-
deaux mixture.

Early ripening fruit. — Here the aim is to secure, by
the time they can be set in the field, plants which have
come by an unchecked but comparatively slow rate
of growth to the greatest size and maturity consistent
with the transplanting to the field without too serious
a check. The methods by which this is accomplished

64 TOMATO CL'LTUKE

vary greatly and generally differ materially from those
given above. The seed is planted much earlier and
60 to 90 days before it is at all safe to set plants in
the open field ; while a steady rate of growth is de-
sirable, it should be slow and the plants kept small by
a second and even third and fourth transplanting, and
especial care taken to avoid the soft and irregular
growth resulting from over-watering or over-heating.
An\- side shoots which ma\- appear should be pinched
out and a full pollination of the first cluster of the
blossoms secured, either by direct application of pollen
or by staking or jarring the plants on bright days ;
and finally, special eft'orts made to set the plants in
the field as earl\- and with as little check as possible.
Growers are often willing to run considerable risk
of frost for the sake of early setting.

When one has sandy land a very profitable crop
can sometimes be secured by sowing the seed very
early, and growing the plants on in beds until the first
cluster of fruit is set, then heeling them in, much
as nursery trees are. but so close that they can be
quickly covered in case of frost. As soon as it is at
all safe to do so, they are set in the open ground, very
close!}', on the south side of ridges, so that only the
upper one-third of the plant is exposed, the remainder
being laid nearly level and covered with earth.

So treated the plants will ripen the upper one or
two clusters very early but will yield little more until
late in the season, and it is generally more profitable
to plow them up and put in some other crop as soon
as the first clusters of fruit have ripened. Others
pinch out the central bud as soon as it is well formed.

STARTINC, PLANTS 65

usually within lo days from the sowing of the seed.
When this is done a great proportion of the plants
will start branches from the axils of the cotyledons ;
these usually develop blossoms in the third to the fifth
node and produce fruit much lower than in a normal
]:)lant. It is questionable if there is any gain in time
from seed to fruit by this method, but it enables one
to get older plants of a size which it is practicable to
transplant to the field.

In most cases it will be found more profitable and
satisfactory so to grow the plants that by the time
they can be safely set out of doors they will be in vig-
orous condition, about 6 to lo inches tall, stout, healthy
and well hardened ofl^. Such ])lants will ripen fruit
nearly, and often quite as early as older ones and will
produce a constant succession of fruit, instead of ripen-
ing a single cluster or two and then no more until
they have made a new growth.

For late summer and early fall. — It is generally
true in the South and often equally so in the North,
that there is a more eager local demand for tomatoes
in the late summer and fall months, after most of the
spring set plants have ceased bearing, than in early
summer. In ^Michigan I have often been able to get
more for choice fruit in late October and in November
than the best Floridas were sold for in May or early
June, and certainly in the South the home use of fresh
tomatoes should not be confined to spring set plants,
l-'or the fall crop in the South seed may be sown in
late spring or i\p to the middle of July, in beds shaded
with frames, covered with lath nailed 3 to 4 inches
apart and the plants set in the field about 40 days from

66 TOMATO CULTURE

sowing, the same care being taken to put the ground
into good condition as is recommended for the spring
planted crop.

A second plan, which has sometimes given most
excellent results, is to cut back spring set plants which
have ripened some fruit but which are not completely
exhausted, to mere stubs, and spade up the ground
about them so as to cut most of the roots, water thor-
oughly and cover the ground with a mulch of straw.
Most of the plants so treated will start a new and vig-
orous growth and give most satisfactory returns.

Fruit at least expenditure of labor. — When this is
the great desideratum, many growers omit the hotbed
and even the pricking out, sowing the seed as early
as they judge the plants will be safe from frost, and
broadcast, either in cold-frames or in uncovered beds,
at the rate of 50 to 150 to the square foot and trans-
planting directly to the field. Or they may be advan-
tageously sown in broad drills either by the use of the
pepper-box arrangement suggested on page 60, or a
garden drill adjusted to sow a broad row. In Mary-
land and the adjoining states, as well as in some places
in the West, most of the plants for crops for the can-
ners are grown in this way and at a cost of 40 cents
or even less a 1,000. The seed should be sown so that
it will be from j/i to y^ inch apart and the plants
thinned as soon as they are up so that they will be
at least ^2 inch apart. Where seed is sown early with
no provision for protection from the frost it is always
well to make other sowings as soon as the last begins
to break ground in order to furnish reserve plants, if
the earlier sown lots be destroyed by frost. Others

STARllNc; ri>ANTS 67

even sow the seed in place in the held, thinning out
to a single one in a hill when the plants are about
2 inches high. Some of the largest yields I have ever
known have been raised in this way, but the fruit is
late in maturing and generally the method is not so
satisfactory as starting the plants where they can be
given some protection, and transplanting them to the
field.

Plants for the home garden. — These may be grown
in pots or boxes set in the sunniest spot available and
treated as has been described. In this way plants,
equal to any, may be grown without the aid of either
hotbed or greenhouse. It will generally be more satis-
factory, however, to secure the dozen or two plants
needed from some one who has grown them in quan-
tity than to grow so small a lot by themselves. In
selecting plants, take those which are short, stiff, hard,
and dark green in color with some purple color on
the lower part of the stem rather than those which
are softer and of a brighter green, or those in which
the foliage is of a yellowish green ; but in selection
it must be remembered that varieties differ as to the
color of foliage, so that there may be a difference in
shade which is not due to conditions.

Plants under glass. — If to be grown in pots or
boxes, "prick out," when small, into three-inch pots
and as they grow re-pot several times so that when
set in the pots or beds in which they are to fruit, they
are stout plants 12 to 16 inches high. Plants propa-
gated from cuttings give much better returns rela-
tively under glass than out of doors.

CHAPTER XI

Proper Distance for Planting

The best distance apart for the plants to be set in
the field varies greatly with the soil, the variety, the
methods of cultivation and other conditions. Plants
set as close in rich clay soil as would give the best
results in a warm, sandy one. or those of a strong
growing sort, like l>ucke\e State, set as close as would
be desirable for sorts, like Atlantic Prize or Dwarf
Champion, \\ould give little but leaves and inferior
fruit. In field culture I like to space the plants so as
to facilitate gathering the fruit, and recommend the
following arrangement : Set the plants according to
soil and the variety 2J/2 to 4 feet apart in the row.
omitting two or three in every 75 or 100 plants so as
to form driveways across the rows. Set the first and
second and the third and fourth rows. etc.. 2j/ to 33/2
and the second and third and the fourth and fifth row\s
5/'2 to 6 feet ai)art. As the plants grow, those of the
first and second and those of the third and fourth
row^s. etc., are thrown together and in many cases it
will pay to have a pair of narrow horizontal strips or
wires nearly 18 inches from the ground upon which
they can be thrown.

This arrangement of the jjlants allows us to con-
tinue to cultivate the wider s])aces between the second
and third and fcnirth and fifth, etc., rows, much longer,
and tends to confine the necessary tramping and pack-

' 68

I'R0pi:k DisiANci-: kok i-laxtixg

ing of the soil when gathering the fruit chiefly to these
rows — an important point in case the soil is wet. The
rows can be marked out the day before, but it is better
to set the plants in the cross-rows and that these be
marked out just ahead of the setters. In this arrange-
ment the distances are equivalent to from 2j,j.x4 feet,

FIG. 19 — TO.M.VTOES .sOW.X AND ALLOWED TO C.KOW IX HOTBEDS

requiring 4.300 plants to the acre, to 4x5 feet, requir-
ing but about 2,100 plants. The latter distance is that
most commonly used by Xew Jersey growers.

In the home garden. — It will usually be more satis-
factory to give each plant plenty of space, setting them
5 or 6 feet apart each way, except in the case of the
dwarf sorts, which should be from 3^/2 to 3 feet apart.
.\ few plants at these distances will usually be much
more satis factor}- than more set nearer together, but

TOMATO CULTURE

tlic larger growing sorts should have at least 3 feet
and the dwarf sorts 2 feet. When one has a hotbed
or cold-frame it is often an advantage to set a row
of tomato plants nearly 18 inches apart at the back
end much earlier than they could be safely set in the
open ground, and if these are allowed to grow on in
place, as shown in Fig. 19, being pruned and tied to
stakes, they will give some very early fruit.

In the greenhouse. — Experience and practice differ
as to the most desirable distance apart for plants under
glass. But 2 feet apart, where quality is the main con-
sideration, and 18 inches when quantity, if fair, is of
more importance than extra quality.

Setting plants in the field. — The economical and
successful setting of plants in the field is an important
element of successful tomato culture and is very de-
pendent upon soil and weather conditions. It is as-
sumed that the soil of the field has been put into the
best possible condition of tilth, but its condition as to
moisture is also very important. The worst condition
is when it is wet and muddy, especially if it is at all
clayey — not only is the cost of setting greatly in-
creased, but plants set in such soil can seldom, by any
amount of care, be made to do well, especially if a
heavy beating rain or dry windy weather follows im-
mediately ; the condition is less unfavorable if a warm
gentle rain or still moist weather follows. A dry cold
wind, even if the day is cloudy and the soil in good
condition, is also unfavorable, particularly if the roots
of the plants are exposed.

Wet soil, cold, dry air and wind are the conditions
to be avoided. Moist, not wet, soil and still, warm air

PKOl'KH UISTAXCE FOR PLANTING 7I

are to be desired ; whether the day is sunny or not is
less important. There is a certain definite time, which
does not usually extend beyond a few days, when any
lot of plants is in the best condition for setting in the
field. It is hardly possible to describe this condition
more than to say it is when the plants are as large as
they can be without crowding and are in a state where
they can best stand the shock of removal.

It will always be a matter of judgment as to how
long it is best to hold plants, which are in condition
for setting, for favorable weather conditions. They
can sometimes be held a few days, by scant watering
and full exposure, or in some cases by taking from the
bed and heeling in. as nurserymen do trees ; but it is
better to set when the weather is unfavorable or to
run some risk from frost rather than to hold them in
this way too long. The wise selection of time for set-
ting is an important factor in securing a good and
profitable crop.

The South Jersey growers, to whom early ripening
fruit is the great desideratum and who have a very
warm soil, and grow plants so they are quite hardy
and can be transplanted with little check, set them in
the field very early, some seasons by the last of April ;
and if the plants can be got out so as to have two or
three days of favorable weather to get established be-
fore it comes, they seem to be little hurt even bv a
quite severe frost. The first essential to successful
transplanting is to have well-grown, healthy, hardy
plants ; the second is that they be in good condition for
setting, which can be secured by giving them, for a
few days before planting, a scant supply of water and

72 TOMATO CLLTl'Kl':

fullest possible exposure to air and sun, and then a
thorough wetting a few hours before they are to be set.

The South Jersey plan of growing and setting plants
gets them into the field in the best condition of any
method I know. Two to five days before they expect
to plant, the growers go over the beds and, by means
of a hoe that has been straightened and sharpened to
form a sort of spade, they cut through the soil and
manure so as to divide the plants into blocks of six.
A few hours before they are to plant, they saturate the
bed with water. By means of a flattened shovel they
can take up the blocks of plants and place them in a
cart or low wagon so the soil is scarcely disturbed at
all, the roots in the manure serving to bind the whole
together. In the meantime furrows are opened along
the rows and the cart driven to the field ; the plants
in the blocks are cut apart with a butcher knife placed
in the furrow and the earth drawn about them.

Plants set in this way often do not wilt at all, even
in hot sunshine. When plants are grown in boxes
these can be taken to the field and plants taken from
them in much the same way and so that they will be
disturbed but little. In setting the plants it should
always be borne in mind that while sunshine on the
leaves of a plant rarely does any injury, it is very in-
jurious to the roots, and the exposure of the roots to
the sun or to cold, dry wind, should be avoided in
every practicable way, such as by carrying the plants
to the field laid on the sides of a box. which is then
carried with its bottom toward the sun so as to have
the plants in the shade, always handling the plant in
the shade of one's body, etc. It is well worth while

I'KOi'KR DISTANCE FOR PLANTING J-^

to walk to the end of the row to commence work in
order to secure this. It is attention to such details
that distinguishes one whose plants nearly always do
well from one who loses a large proportion of those
he handles.

Fruit at the least expenditure of labor. — The plants
are prepared for setting by scant watering, and are
taken up so as to secure as much root as possible
with little soil adhering to them. Great care should
be taken in taking the plants from the bed, and in
handling them, to avoid twisting the stems, as to do
so very seriously injures the plants, often to such an
extent that they will fail to grow, no matter how care-
fully set out. Some growers dip the roots in a very
thin clay mud, hardly thicker than thin cream, but 1
have not found this of advantage except, sometimes,
when the roots are to be exposed for a longer period
than usual and I do not recommend it for general use.
In setting, holes are made Qither with a long dibble,
in the hands of the one who distributes the plants, or
b}- a short one, in the hands of the setter ; the plants
are dropped into them a little deeper than they had
stood in the bed, the earth closed about the roots, by
pressure from the side. Especial care should be taken
that this is well done, particularly at the bottom ; the
earth should be so firmly pressed to the root that the
])lant cannot be easily pulled from the soil. In some
sections transplanting machines { Fig. 20) are used
and liked, but most planters prefer to set by hand and
the additional cost is not great. An expert with one
or two boys to assist in handling the plants can put
out as many as 3,000 plants in a day. A machine re-

74 JUMATCJ CULTLKE

quiring" more help to run it can set from 15,000 to
20,000.

In the home garden, when hut a few plants are to
be set, it will be better to put them in after 4 P. M.
and use water in setting, but the wet soil should be
covered with some dry earth to prevent its caking.

In the greenhouse. — Plants are better set in the
places where they are to fruit just before their first
blossoms open and should be set in accordance with,
the suggestions given for transplanting to the field.

CHAPTER XII

Cultivation

For maximum crop. — As soon as plants are set
the ground should be well cultivated to the greatest
depth practicable. We should remember that the to-
mato needs for its best development a very friable
soil, while the tramping necessary in setting out the
plants and gathering the fruit tends to compact and
harden the soil. Often transplanting has to be done
when the soil is wet, and we need to counteract the
injury from tramping by immediate cultivation; but.
at the same time, we must avoid the disturbing of the
plants any more than is necessary, and all of our cul-
tivation should be done with these points in mind.
Just how it can be done best will vary not only with
the location and the facilities available, but with the
weather conditions, so that it is not well to attempt
to give explicit directions any further than that one
can hardly cultivate too deeply for the first seven
days nor too often for the first 30 days after the
plants are set, provided he avoids turning the soil
when it is too wet. Even walking through the field
when the soil is wet is injurious and should be avoided,
in proportion as the soil is a clayey one.

At least expenditure of labor. — I hardly need
add to or change the suggestions given above for to-
inatoes at least cost, for any cultivation wisely given
will probably do as much to reduce cost per bushel by

CULTIVATION 'J'J

increasing the yield per acre as any other expen-
diture. In the garden it is advisable that from the
time the plants are set until the fruit ripens, the sur-
face soil about them be stirred every evening when
it is not actually wet.

In the greenhouse. — The surface of the soil should
be kept open by frequent stirring or, as is the practice
of some successful growers, it may be covered with a
nuilch of partially rotted manure. The plants should
be watered only as needed to prevent wilt, and special
pains taken to guard against too much moisture either
in the soil or in the air, particularly on dark days. The
night temperature should be uniformly about 60° F.
while in the day it should be 75°, and if it be bright
and sunny it may go to 90° or even higher. Air
should be given freely whenever feasible to do so with-
out too greatly reducing temperature. A moderate
degree of moisture should be maintained in the air,
care being taken that it does not become too moist,
especially during dark days. There is more danger
from the air becoming too moist than from its be-
coming too dry, though either extreme is injurious.

Pollinating. — The structure and relations of the
parts of the tomato flower are such that while perfect
pollination is possible, and in plants grown in the open
air usually takes place without artificial assistance,
it is not so likely to occur when plants are grown
under glass, particularly in the winter months, and
it is usually necessary to secure it by artificial means.
With vigorous, healthy plants and on light, sunny
days, it can be accomplished by jarring the plants near
midday. This generally throws enough pollen into the

78 TOMATO CULTUKE

air so that an abundance of it reaches each receptive
stigma. With less vigorous plants and on dark days
it is necessary to hand pollinate the flowers. This is
done by gathering the pollen by means of jarring the
plants, so that it falls into a watch crystal or other re-
ceptacle secured at the end of a wand, and then press-
ing the projecting pistils of other flowers into it so
that they may become covered with the pollen.

Some growers transfer the pollen with a camel's-
hair-brush; others by pulling ofif the corolla and ad-
hering anthers and rubbing them over the stigma of
other flowers. Fruit rarely follows flowers that are
not pollinated, and if it is incomplete the fruit will
be unsymmetrical and imperfectly developed. As to-
mato flowers secrete but very little, if any, honey and
are not attractive to insects, it is of no advantage to
confine a hive of bees in the tomato house in the way
which is so useful in one where cucumbers or melon?
are growing.

CHAPTER XIII

Staking, Training and Pruning

Under favorable conditions of soil and climate,
plants of most varieties of tomatoes will, in field cul-
ture, yield as much fruit if allowed to grow naturally
and unpruned as if trained and pruned. This is espe-
cially true of the sorts of the Earliana type and on
warm, sandy soils, while it may not be true of the
stronger growing sorts or on rich clay lands or where
the fertilizer used contains an excess of nitrogen. In
any case more fruit can be grown to the acre on
pruned and staked plants because more of them can
be gotten on an acre ; and it is an advantage to grow
them in that way l>ecause it enables us, by later culti-
vation, to keep the ground in good tilth longer ; also
it facilitates the gathering of the fruit; and last, but
not least, it generally enables us to produce better
ripened and flavored fruit.

Staking and pruning used to be the almost univer-
sal practice in the South, but in many sections grow-
ers have abandoned it, claiming that they get as good
or better results without it. In the North it is rarely
used in field culture, though often used in private gar-
dens and by some market gardeners, and both staking
or tying up and pruning are essential to the profitable
growing of tomatoes, under glass. In the South, stout
stakes from i to 2 inches in diameter and 4 to 5 feet
long are driven into the ground so that they can be

8o TOMATO Cfl/TURE

depended upon to hold the plants erect through the
heaviest storms, as seen in Fig. 21. This is gener-
ally and wisely done as soon as the plant is set, though
some growers delay doing so until the fruit is well
set. claiming that the disturbance of staking, tying
and pruning tends to hasten the ripening of the fruit.
The plant is then tied up, the tying material being-
wrapped once about the stake and then looped about
the plant so as to prevent shipping on the stake or
choking the stem of the plant as it enlarges. Raffia
is largely used and is one of the best tying materials,
but short pieces of any soft, cheap string can be used.
The tying up will need to be repeated as the stem
elongates, which it will do very rapidly.

In pruning the tomato we should allow the central
shoot of the young plant to grow, and remove all of
the side shoots which spring from the axils of the
leaves and sometimes even from the fruit clusters, as
seen in Fig. 22. It is very desirable that this be done
w^hen the branches are small, as there is then less
danger of seriously disturbing the balance of the grow-
ing forces of the plant, and also because there is less
danger of careless workmen cutting off the main shoot
in place of a lateral, which would seriously check the
ripening of the fruit. It is especially important that
any shoots springing from the fruit cluster be removed
as early as possible, h'or these reasons it is important
that, if the plants are to be pruned at all, the field be
gone over every few days. If the ])runing is not well
done it is a disadvantage rather than a help.

Some growers allow two or three (Fig. 23) instead
of one shoot to grow, selecting for the second the most

< r.

IS K

< PH

^ c

< .
o
o .

FIG. 22 — TOMATO PLANT TRAINED TO SINGLE STAKE

FIG. 2;^ — METHOD OF TRAINING TO THREE STEMS IN FORCING-
HOUSE AND OUT OF DOORS

TOMATO CL'LTUKJi

vit^orous of the shoots starting from below the first
ckister of fruit. In some locations they stop or pinch
out the main shoot just above the first leaf above the

Kid. 24 — METHOD Ul" TKAINlXd l)N IJXE IN GKEKMIOUSE

third or fourth cluster ; in some soils it is an advantage
and in others rather a disadvantage to do this. I
have seldom ])racticed it. When fruit at the lowest
cost a bushel is the desideratum, neither pruning nor
staking is desirable.

STAKING, TRAINING AND J'KLNING 85

For home gardens. — lu the home garden trelUsing
and pruning are often very desirable, as they enable
us not only to produce more fruit in a given area but

FIG. 25 — READY TO TRANSPLANT IN GREENHOUSE
(Redrawn from photo by New York Experiment Station)

of better quality. Many forms of trellis have been
recommended. Where the plants are to be pruned
as well as supported, as the}- should always be in gar-
dens, there is nothing better than the single stake, as
described above. For a trellis without pruning, one to

" 4*"- J'- y^-M

rj _U

STAKING^ TRAINING AND PRUNING 87

three stout hoops supported b\" three stakes so as to
surround the plant which is allowed to grow through
and fall over them, or two or more parallel strips sup-
ported about a foot from the ground on each side of
a row of plants answer the purpose, which is simply

FIG. ZJ — TOMATOES IN GREENHOUSE AT OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION
(Photo by courtesy of C. W. Waid)

to keep the plant up from the ground and facilitate
the free circulation of the air among leaves and fruit.
I have seen tomatoes grown very successfully by
the side of an open fence. Two stakes w^ere driven
into the ground about 6 inches from the fence and
the plant, but slanting outward and away from each
other. The tops of the stakes were fastened to the
fence by wooden braces, and then heavy strings fas-
tened to the fence around the stakes and back to the

TOMATO CUl/rURE

fence, tlie whole with tlie fence forming a sort of in-
verted pyramidal vase about 3 feet across at the top.
In this the plant was allowed to grow, but it would be
essential to success that the fence be an open one.
In the greenhouse. — Here i)runing and training

FIG. 28 — FORCING TOMATOES IN GREENHOUSE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE

EXPERIMENT STATION. NOTE CHARACTER OF BED

ON THE GROUND FLOOR

(Photo by courtesy of Prof. H. F. Hall)

are essential. The plants may be supported by wires
or strings (a coarse wool twine will answer), twist-
ing the string about the plant as it grows. The
growth is usually confined to a single shoot, though
some growers allow two ( I^g. 24) ; the method of
pruning does not dififcr from that given for field cul-

STAKING, TKAlMNd AND I'RUNING 89

ture, but it is more important tliat the plants be gone
over often and the branches removed when small. If
allowed to do so, branches would spring from the axil
of each leaf and the plant would become a perfect
thicket of slender branches and leaves and produce
but little fruit. The main stem is sometimes pinched
out after three or four clusters of fruit are set and
the branch from the axil of the first leaf above is
allowed to take its place. This tends to hasten the
maturing of the fruit clusters already set. After sev-
eral clusters have matured, or the main stem reaches
the top of the house, some growers allow a shoot from
the bottom to grow and as soon as fruit sets on it the
first stem is cut away and this takes its place. Others
prefer to remove the old plant entirely and set in
\oung ones. A plant ready for transplanting is shown
in Fig. 25. In figures 26, 27 and 28 are shown interior
views of greenhouses at the New York station at Ge-
neva, the Ohio station at Wooster, and the New-
Hampshire station at Durham. Note the strong, vig-
orous plants in Fig. 26; the method of utilizing tile
for watering in Fig. 27; and the ground-floor bed-
ding in Fig. 28.

CHAPTER XIV

Ripening, Gathering, Handling and Marketing
the Fruit

Tomatoes ripen and color from within outward and
they will acquire full and often superior color, partic-
ularly about the stems, if. as soon as they have ac-
quired full size and the ripening process has fairly com-
menced, they are picked and spread out in the sun-
shine. The point of ripeness when they can be safely
picked is indicated by the surface color changing from
a dark green to one of distinctly lighter 'shade with
a very light tinge of pink. Fruit picked in this stage
of maturity may be wrapped in paper and shipped
i,ooo or 2,000 miles and when unwrapped after two
or ten days" journey will be found to have acquired
a beautiful color, often even more brilliant than that
of a companion fruit left on the vine. Enclosing the
fruit while on the vine and about half grown in paper
bags has been recommended, and it often results in
deeper and more even coloring and prevents injury
from cracking, but the fruit so ripened, while more
beautiful, is not so well flavored as that ripened in
the sun. But Americans are said to taste with their
eyes, so that in this country, fruit of this beautiful
color will often out-sell that which is of better flavor
though of duller color.

The tomato never acquires its full and most perfect
flavor except when ripened on the vine and in full

Rll'hXING, GATHERING, HANDLING AND MARKKTING 9!

sunlight. Vine and sun-ripened tomatoes, like tree-
ripened peaches, are vastly better flavored than those
artificially ripened. This is the chief reason why to-
matoes grown in hothouses in the vicinity are so much
superior to those shipped in from farther south. Aft-
er it has come to its most perfect condition on the
plant the fruit deteriorates steadily, whether gathered
or allowed to remain on the vine, and the more rapidly
in proportion as the air is hot and moist. That it be
fresh is hardly less essential to the first quality in a
tomato than it is to such things as lettuce and cu-
cumbers.

Gathering. — As is the case with most horticultural
products, the best methods of gathering, handling and
marketing the fruit vary greatly with the conditions
under which the fruit was grown and how it is to
be used, and it requires the best of judgment to gather
it in the stage of maturity in which it will give the
best satisfaction, under the conditions and for the
purposes for which it is to be used. It is impossible
to give exact rules for determining when the fruit is
in the best condition. This can only be learned by
experience, guided by a know^ledge of the ripening
habit of the fruit, which not only varies somewhat
in different localities, but with dififerent varieties. In
the extreme South, fruit is picked for shipment be-
fore it shows more than the slightest tint of color at
the blossom end ; the depth of color which is con-
sidered as indicating shipping condition deepens as
we go north and nearer market.

Generally the fruit should be left on the vine no
longer than will permit of its becoming fully ripe

92 TOMATO CTI.TURE

by the time it reaches its destination and is exposed
for sale. When the fruit is to be shipped any dis-
tance the field should be gone over frequently, as
often as every second or third day or even every day
in the hight of the season, and care taken to pick
every fruit as soon as it is in proper condition. When
it is to be sold in nearby markets or to a cannery the
exact stage of maturity, when picked, is not so im-
portant, although it is always an advantage not to
gather until the fruit is well colored and before it
begins to soften. Some growers for canneries make
but three or four pickings, but in this case it is well
to gather the ripest fruit separately.

In picking and handling great care should be taken
not to mar or bruise the fruit, and the stems should
be removed as the fruit is picked to prevent bruising
in handling. A bruise or mar may not be as conspic-
uous in a tomato as in a peach, but it is quite as
injurious. It is a great deal better for pickers to use
light pails rather than baskets, the flexibility of the
latter often resulting in bruises. It is an advantage
to have enough of these so that the sorting can be
from the pail, but if this is not practical the fruit
should be carefully emptied on a sorting table for
grading. It should first of all be separated with re-
gard to its maturity. A single fruit w^hich is a little
riper or greener than the remainder may make the en-
tire package unsalable. It should also be graded as to
freedom from blemishes or cracks, and as to size,
form and color. It is assumed that the fruit for each
package is to be of the same variety, but often there
is quite a variation in different fruits from even the

RlPRXIXr.. (.A

lli:Ul.\t;, IIA.NDI.INC AM) MAUKI.IIM. Mj

same vine : the more uniform in all respects the fruit
in a package is the more attractive and salable it
becomes. There is no fruit where careful grading

,,,,; 29_FL0RIDA TOMATOES PROPERLY WRAPPED FOR LONG

SHIPMENT

(Photo by courtesy of American Agriculturist)

and packing have more influence on the price it will
command.

I know of a certain noted peach-grower in northern
Michigan who grew, each year, some 2 to 5 acres
of tomatoes for the Chicago market. It was his cus-
tom to pick out about one-tenth of the best of the
fruit, i)utting it into small and attractively labeled

94 TOMATO CI 'LT LIRE

packages; the remainder of the crop was sorted over
and from one-tenth to one-fifth of it rejected and fed
to stock or sold to a local cannery. The remainder
was sent to Chicago with his selects, but as common
stock, and usually brought more than his neighbors
received for unsorted fruit ; but the check he received
for his selects was usually as large as that for his
commons, thus giving him about 33 1-3 per cent,
more for his crop than his neighbors received for
their equally good, but unsorted, fruit — to say noth-
ing of w^hat he received for the rejected fruit and the
saving of freight which, he said, was usually enough
to pay the actual cost of sorting.

Tomatoes are usually classed as vegetables but,
when ripe, they require as careful handling as the
most delicate fruits and are as easily and seriously
injured by bruising and jarring, just how this can
be avoided and the fruit gotten from the vine to the
possiblv distant consumer in the best condition will
vary in different cases. Tomatoes from the South
(Fig. 29) are generally marketed in carriers which,
though varying somewhat, are essentially alike and
consist of an open basket or boxes of veneer holding
about 10 pounds of fruit. When shipped, tw^o, four
or six of these are packed in crates made of thin
boards, so as to protect the fruits but give them plenty
of air.

Packing. — Most of the fruit sent to New York
and riiiladelphia markets from New Jersey and other
northern states is in boxes or crates holding about
^i of a bushel and so made as to facilitate ventilation
when piled in cars or warehouses. hVuit for the

RIP1=

£N1XG. GATlll-RIXG. llANUf-lNc; AM) MAKKl-TlNG 95

canneries is usually picked and handled u. bushel
crates of lath. These various packages are usually
sold in the flat and the grower puts them together as
is convenient before the crop comes on; but m many
sections where there are large shipments they are
often put together by the package dealers. Fig. 30

Pit; 30— C.KEENHOUSE TOMATOES FALKEb ruK MARKET
(By courtesy Ohio Experiment Station)

Shows tomatoes as packed by the Ohio experiment

station. .

Fruits after frost.— Sometimes when there is a
..reat quantitv of partially ripe and full grown green
fruit on the vines which is liable to be spoiled by an
earlv fall frost, it can be saved by pulling the vines
and' placing them in windrows and covering them
with straw. Of course the vines should be handled
carefullv to shake off as little fruit as possible. If
the freeze is followed by a spell of warm, dry weather

96 TOMATO CUr.TURE

the fruit will ripen up so as to be quite equal to that
shipped in from a distance. A second plan is to pull
the vines and hang them up in a dry cellar or out-
house, or lay them on the ground in an open grove of
trees, or beneath the trees of an adjoining orchard.

Still another plan is to gather the green fruit and
spread it not more than two to four fruits deep m hot-
bed frames, which are then covered with sash. Local
grocers are usually glad to pay good prices for this
late fruit, and in seasons of scarcity I have known
canners to buy thousands of bushels so ripened at bet-
ter prices than they paid for the main crop.

CHAPTER XV

Adaptation of Varieties

Whatever may be their botanical origin, the modern
varieties of cukivated tomatoes vary greatly in man\
respects, and while these differences are always of
importance their relative importance differs with con-
ditions. When the great desideratum is the largest
possible yield of salable fruit at the least expenditure
of labor, the qualities of the vine may be the most
important ones to be considered, while in private gar-
dens and for a critical home market and where closer
attention and better cultivation can be given, they
may be of far less importance than qualities of fruit.

Habits of growth. — \Miether it be standard or
dwarf, compact or spreading, is sometimes of great im-
portance as fitting the sorts for certain soils and meth-
ods of culture. On heavy, moist, rich land, where
staking and pruning are essential to the production
of fruit of the best quality, it is of importance that
we use sorts whose habits of growth fit them for it ;
while on warm, sandy, well-drained land, staking and
pruning may be of little value, and a different habit of
growth more desirable. We have sorts in which the
vine is relatively strong growing with few branches,
upright, with long nodes and small fruit clusters well
scattered over the vine. They are usually very pro-
ductive through a long season but generally late in
maturing. Stocks of this type are sometimes sold,

98 'lO.MAlO ( rL'fl'RE

i think improperly, as giant climbing, or Tree tomato.
The Buckeye State is a good type of these sorts.

(Fig- 3I-)
Other varieties make a stout and vigorous but

FIG. 31 — BUCKEYE STATE, SHOWING LONG NODES AND DISTANCE
BETWEEN FRUIT CLUSTERS

shorter growth, with more and heavier branches,
shorter nodes and many small medium-sized clusters
of fruit well distributed over the plant and which
mature through a fairly long season. These sorts are
usually very productive and our most popular varie-
ties generally belong to this type, of which the Stone
(Fig. ^2) is a good representative of the more com-
pact and the Beauty of the»more open growing.

Other varieties form many short, weak, sprawling

FIG. 3

32— STONE, AND CHAKACTLKlbTlC FOLIAGE

lOO TOMATO CULTURE

branches, with usuall}- large and sometimes very
large clusters of fruit produced chiefly near the cen-
ter of the plant and which mature early and all to-
gether. Plants of this type will often mature their
entire crop and die by the time those of the first type
have come into full crop. The Atlantic Prize (Fig.
;^^) and Sparks Earliana are examples of this type.

In sharp contrast with the above is the tomato De
Laye, often called Tree tomato. This originated about
1862 in a garden at Chateau de Laye, France. In this
the plant rarely exceeds 18 inches in hight, is single-
stemmed or with few very short branches, the nodes
very short, the fruit clusters few and small. From
this, by crossing with other types, there has been de-
veloped a distinct class of dwarf tomatoes which are
of intermediate form and character and are well rep-
sented by the Dwarf Champion ( Fig. 34 ) . Early ma-
turity is sometimes the most important consideration of
all, though, because of increasing facilities for ship-
ping from the South, it is less commonly so than for-
merl\-. For shipping and canning it is generally,
though not always, desirable that the crop mature as
nearly together as possible, that it may be gathered
with the fewest number of pickings and advantage
taken of a favorable market ; while for the home
garden and market a longer season is desirable.

Foliage. — Abundant, broad and close, or scanty
cut and open foliage is sometimes of importance, ac-
cording to whether the location, season and other con-
ditions make it desirable that the foliage protect the
fruit from the sun or admit the sunlight, with as
little obstruction as possible, to the center of the plant.

^ ^^^M * V Vf^'^^

s^^^^^

1— \

KK;. ^^ — ATLANTK PRIZE, AND ITS XUKMAL FOLIAGE

102 TOMATO CULTURE

In different sorts, we have gradations frqm those in
which the leaves are so deeply cut as to have a fern-
like appearance, to those like the Magnus, or potato-
leaved, in which the margin of each leaflet is entire,
and from those in which the leaflets are so few and
small as to scarcely shut out the light at all to those
in which they are so numerous that the light can hardly
penetrate to the center of the plant. The Atlantic Prize
is an illustration of the scanty foliaged sorts, and the
Royal Red or Buckeye State of those in which it is
more abundant. As to color, the foliage varies from
the dark blue-green of the Buckeye State to the light,
distinctly yellowish-green of the Honor Bright.

Varietal differences as to fruit. — These are often
more important than those of vine. For canning, for
forcing, and some other uses and for certain markets,
a medium and uniform size is a very important qual-
ity, while in other cases uniformity is not important
and the larger the individual fruits, provided they be
well formed, the better. We have different sorts in
which the size of the fruit varies from that of the
Currant, which is scarcely i inch in circumference,
to that of Ponderosa, of which well-formed specimens
over 20 inches in circumference have been grown.

Shape. — It is always desirable that the outline of
the vertical section shall be a flowing line with a broad
and shallow, or no depression at the stem end and as
little as possible at the opposite point ; but the relative
importance of this, or whether the general outline
shall be round or oval, cither vertically or horizon-
tally, forming a round, long or flat fruit, is largely
determined bv how the fruit is to be used, and bv in-

FIG. 34 — DWARI-- CHAMPION. NOTE CHARACTER OF FOLIAGE

104 TO.MATO CTl.TURl-:

dividual taste. .V round fruit is best for canning; a
long one is the most economical for slicing, though
some prefer a flat one for this purpose. It is always
desirable that the outline of the horizontal section shall
be smooth, flowing and symmetrical, and if there be
any distinct sutures that they shall be shallow and
broad ; bvit the relative importance of this, and whether
the outline be round or oval, is wholl\ a matter of
individual taste. Some people and markets prefer
one shape and others a very different one. Size and
smoothness of fruit are the factors which control price
in some markets, while in others these points are quite
secondary to color and character of flesh.

We have sorts which vary from the perfectl}' spher-
ical ones of the grape and cherr}-, to those in which
the vertical diameter is less than a third of that of
the horizontal section, and the pear-shaped in which
the vertical diameter is tw'ice or thrice that of the long-
est horizontal section, and from those in which the
outline of both the vertical and horizontal sections
is smooth and flowing to those in which the vertical
section has a deep indentation at both the stem and
opposite ends, and those in which the horizontal sec-
tion is broken by deep indentures and sutures often
disposed with great irregularity.

For shipping long distances, for the rough handling,
and for the easy preparation for the fruit for canning,
a thick, tough skin is desirable, while for home use
it is objectionable. Freedom from blemish or skin
crack is also often an important quality, and we have
sorts which vary greatly in tliese respects. The color
of the skin, whether purple, red, yellow or white, is

ADAPTATION OF VARIETIES IO5

a matter of taste. In some markets the choice is given
to purple fruit, like the Beauty, while in others it can
only be sold at a reduced price. There are few who
would care to use either yellow or white fruit for can-
ning or cooking in any way, but many prefer them
for slicing, or like to use them with the red for this
purpose ; we have sorts showing every gradation from
white or light yellow in color through shades of red
to dark purple-red, and still others which show dis-
tinct colors in sj)lashings and shadings.

Character of flesh. — Many consider that the greater
the number of cells and the larger the proportion of
flesh to that of pulp and seed the better. This may
be true of itself, but the fruit-like acid tomato flavor
which most people value is found chiefly in the pulp,
and the fruit which has not a due proportion of pulp
and flesh seems to be insipid and tasteless. Again, the
division into many small cells is often connected with
a large and pithy placenta and unevenness in maturity
and coloring, which faults often more than overbal-
ance any advantage from small cells and thick flesh.
The size and character of the placenta are important
qualities.

In some sorts it is large, dry, pithy and hard, ex-
tending far into the fruit even to below the center ;
and sometimes seems to divide into secondary or
branch placentas or masses of hard cellular matter,
while in other varieties it is small and so soft and juicy
as scarcely to be distinguished from the flesh. Usu-
ally, but not invariably, the large and pithy placenta
is correlated with large-sized fruit having many cells ;
where this is the case it practically necessitates the

I06 TOMAiO CULTURE

cutting away and wasting of a large proportion of
the fruit in preparing it for canning, so that the can-
ners usually prefer round, medium-sized fruits.

The character of the interior of the fruit varies
greatly in different varieties. Both the exterior and
divisional walls vary in thickness and in consistency.
In some varieties they are comparatively thin, hard
and dry; in others, thicker, softer and more juicy.
In some cases there is but little interior wall, the fruit
being divided into but few — even but two — cells of
even size and shape, while in others there are many
cells of varying size and shape. \'arieties also differ
greatly as to the amount, consistency and flavor of the
pulp and the number of seeds. It requires from 300
to 500 pounds of ripe fruit to furnish a pound of seed
of Ponderosa, while with some of the smaller, earlier
sorts one can get a pound of seed from 100 to 200
pounds of fruit.

Coloring and ripening. — Uniformity and evenness
in coloring and ripening are an important quality.
Tomatoes generally color and ripen from within out-
ward, and from the point opposite the stem upward,
but varieties differ in the evenness and rapidity with
which this takes place. It is always desirable that
the ripening be as even as possible and that there be
no green and hard spots either at the surface or in
the flesh, but often perfection in this respect is corre-
lated with such lack of size and solidity as to counter-
balance it. Rapidity in ripening, in a general way, is
desirable for fruit to be used at home, and undesirable
in that which is to be shipped.

The time a tomato fruit will remain in usable con-

ADAPTATION OF XAKIETIES lO"

dition and the amount of rough handUng it will endure
without becoming unsalable are most important com-
mercial qualities depending largely upon the combined
efifects of the form and structure of the fruit, solidity
and firmness of the flesh and ripening habit. In all
these resepcts we have varieties which dififer greatly,
from the Honor Bright, wdiich requires as much time
to ripen, and when ripe is firm-tieshed and will re-
main usable as long as a peach, to those which 24
hours after reaching their full size are fully colored
and ripe, and in 24 hours more are so over-ripe and
soft that they will break oj^en of their own weight.

These are only some of the varietal differences of
the tomato. Are such differences of practical import-
ance? I think they are, and that a wise selection of
the type best suited to one's own particular conditions
and requirements is one of the most essential requisites
of satisfactorx- tomato culture. How important it
seems to practical tomato growers may be illustrated
by an actual case.

In a certain section of Xew Jersey the money-ma-
king crop is early tomatoes, and they are grown to
such an extent that from an area with a radius of
not exceeding 5 miles they have shipped as much as
15,000 bushels in one day, and the shipments will
often average 8,000 bushels for days together. They
have tried a great number of sorts, but have settled
upon a certain type of a well-known variety as that
best suited to their conditions and needs. Seeds of
this variety which are supposed to produce plants of
the exact t_\pe wanted can be bought from seedsmen
for 10 cents an ounce and at much lower rates for

I08 TOMATO CULTURE

larger quantities, but when one of the most success-
ful growers of that locality, because of change of oc-
cupation, offered seed selected by him for his own
use for sale at auction, it brought $3 an ounce.
This price was paid because of the confidence of the
bidders that the seed could be depended upon to pro-
duce plants of the exact type wanted for their con-
ditions ; and I was assured that the use of this high-
priced seed actually added very largely to the profits
from every field in that vicinity in which it was used,
but the use of some of the same lot of seed by planters
in Florida resulted in financial loss because the type
of plant produced was not suited to their conditions
and requirements.

A wise answer can only be given after a study of
each case, and no one can do this so well as the
planter himself. He should know, as no one else can
know, his own conditions and requirements, and should
be able to form very exact ideas of just what he wants,
and the doing so is, in my opinion, one of the most
important requisites for satisfactory tomato growing.
I also believe that it is as impossible for a man to
answer offhand the question, "What is the best va-
riety of tomato?" as for a wise physician to answer
tlie queston, "What is the best medicine?"

Varietal names and descriptions mean something
quite different in the case of plants like the tomato,
which are propagated by seed, from what they do with
plants like the apple and strawberry, which are prop-
agated by division. In the latter case all the plants
of the variety are but parts of the primal origination,
and so are alike. A description is simply a more or

ADAl'TATION OF VAKl KTl ES lOQ

less complete and accurate definition of what a cer-
tain immutable thing really is, but in the case of plants
propagated by seed the variety is made up of all the
plants which accord with a certain ideal. Bailey says,
-Of all those which have more points of resemblance
than of difiference."' and a description of the variety
is of that ideal which in common practice is not fixed,
but may and generallx- does vary not only with differ-
ent people but from time to time. The only founda-
tion for varietal names in plants of this class is an
agreement as to the ideal the name shall stand for.
Under modern horticultural practice when anyone has
been able to secure seed most of which he is reason-
ably sure will develop into plants of a distinct type
different from that of any sort known to him. he has
a distinct variety, so that it is not surprising that we
should find that American seedsmen offer tomato seed
under more than 300 different names, and those of
Europe under more than 200 additional, so that we
have more than 500 varietal names, each claiming to
stand for a distinct sort. Xow it is quite possible—
indeed, it is certain— that we might have 500 tomato
plants each different in some respect, either of vine,
leaf, habit of growth, or character of fruit, from any
of the others and that these differences might make
plants of one type better suited to certain conditions
and uses than any other; but it is very certain that
these 500 names do not stand for such differences. It
is doubtless true that a portion— though I think but
a small portion— of these different sorts exist simply
as a matter of commercial expediency; but by far a
greater part of them exist because one has found that

no TOMATO CULTURE

plants of a certain character were better suited to some
set of conditions and requirements than any sort with
which he was acquainted, and having secured seed
which he thought would produce plants of that char-
acter, has offered it as of a distinct sort.

It is probable that a better acquaintance with sorts
already in cultivation would have prevented the naming
of many of these stocks as distinct varieties. What is
of far more practical importance, the same name does
not always stand for precisely the same type with dif-
ferent seedsmen, or even with the same seedsmen in
different years ; nor are the seedsmen's published de-
scriptions such as would enable any one to learn from
them just what type he will receive under any par-
ticular name, or which sort he should buy in order to
get plants of any desired type. Seedsmen's catalogs
are published and distributed gratuitously at great
expense, and are issued, primarily, for the sake of
selling the seeds ^hey offer. They answer the purpose
for which they are designed, in proportion as they
secure orders for seeds. Will this be measured by
the accuracy and completeness of their descriptions?
I think that it needs but slight acquaintance with the
actual results of advertising to answer in the negative,
and whatever your answer may be, the answer given
by the catalogs themselves is an emphatic no.

In a recent case I looked very carefully through the
catalogs of 125 American seedsmen who listed a cer-
tain variety which is very markedly deficient in a
certain desirable quality, and found that but 37 of
the 125 mentioned the quality in connection with the
variety at all and of these but 7 admitted the defi-

ADAPTATION OF \AKIIiTIES III

ciency, while 30 told the opposite of the truth. Even
if a complete, exact and reliable description of a vari-
ety was published by disinterested persons, one could
not be sure of getting seed from seedsmen which
would produce plants of that exact type, since there
is no agreement or uniformity among them as to the
exact type any varietal name shall stand for.

One way of getting seed of the exact type wanted
is to do as the South Jersey growers did : go to work
and breed up a stock which is uniformly of the type
wanted ; but this involves more painstaking care than
many are willing to give, though I think not more
than it would be most profitable for them to expend
for the sake of getting seed just suited to their needs.

A second and easier way is to secure samples of the
most promising sorts and from the most reliable
sources and grow them on one's own farm ; select
the stock which seems best for him and buy enough
of that exact stock for several years' planting, and in
the meantime be looking for a still better one. Toma-
to seed stored in a cool, dry place will retain its vital-
ity for from three to seven years.

CHAPTER XVI

Seed Breeding and Growing

The potentialities of every plant and its limitations
are inherent, fixed and immutable in the seed from
which it is developed and are made up of the balanced
sum of the different tendencies it receives in varying
degree from each of its ancestors back for an indefi-
nite number of generations. A very slight difference
in the character or the degree of any one of the ten-
dencies which go to make up this sum may make a
most material difference in the balance and so in the
resulting character of the plant produced. Dift'erent
plants, even of the same ancestry, vary greatly in
prepotenc}' or in the relative dominance of the influ-
ence they have over descendants raised from seed
produced by them.

In some cases all the plants raised from seed pro-
duced by a certain plant will be essentially alike and
closely resemble the seed-bearing plant, while seed
from another plant of the same parentage will develop
into plants differing from each other and seemingly
more influenced by some distant ancestor or by vary-,
ing combinations of such infiuences than of those of
the plant which actually produced the seed from which
they were developed. Successful seed breeding can
only be accomplished by taking advantage of these
principles of heredity and variation, and by a wise
use of them it is possible to produce seed which can

SEED 15KEKUING AND CKoWlNr, 1 13

be depended upon to produce plants of any type possi-
ble to the species.

The first essential for breeding is to have a clear
and exact conception of precisely what, in all re-
spects, the type shall be and then the securing of seed
which has come from plants of that exact character
for the greatest possible number of generations, care-
fully avoiding the introduction by cross-pollination of
tendencies from plants differing in any degree from
the desired type. Secondly, seed should be used from
plants which have been proven to produce seed, which
will develop into plants like themselves or are strongly
prepotent. A practical way to accomplish this in the
tomato is as follows :

By experiment and observation form a very clear
conception of precisely the type of plant and fruits
which is best suited to your needs. This may be done
by the study of available descriptions of sorts, by
conference with those who have had experience in
your own or similar climatic an. soil conditions and
in raising fruit for the same pui poses and, best of all,
by trials of samples of different sorts and stocks on
your own grounds. Having formed such a concep-
tion, write out the clearest possible description of ex-
actly what you want and the ideal plant you are aim-
ing at, stating as fully and minutely as possible every
desirable quality and also those to be avoided. 1
consider not only the formation of an exact ideal,
but the writing out of a most minute and exact de-
scription of precisely what in every particular the
ideal plant should be and the rigid adherence to that
exact ideal in selection, as the most important ele-

114 TOMATO CTT/rL-Rl-:

ments of successful seed breediug. Without it one
is certain to vary from year to year in the type se-
lected and in just so far as he does this, even if it
be toward what might be called improvements or in
regard to an unimportant quality, he undermines all
his work and makes it impossible to establish a strain
which can be relied upon to produce an exact type.

With this description in hand, search out one or
more plants which seem the nearest to the ideal. In
doing this it should be kept in mind that the charac-
ter of the seed is determined by the plant rather than
by the individual fruit. Therefore, a plant whose
fruit is most uniformly of the desired type should be
chosen over one having a small proportion of its fruits
of very perfect type, the others being different and
variable. Save seed from one or more fruits from
each of the selected plants, keeping that from each
fruit, or at least each plant, separate. Give it a i. tim-
ber and make a record of how nearly, in each partic-
ular, the plant and fruit of each number come to the
desired ideal. I regard the saving of each lot sepa-
rately and recording its characters as very important,
even when all have been selected to and come equally
close to precisely the same ideal. Quite often the
seed of one plant will produce plants precisely like it,
while that of another, equal or superior, will produce
plants of which no two are alike and none like that
which produced the seed, so that often the mixing of
seed from different plants of the same general type,
and seemingly of equal quality, prevents the establish-
ment of a uniform type.

The next year from to to lOO plants raised from

SEED BREEDING AND GROWING II5

aach lot are set in blocks and labeled. As they develop
the blocks are studied and compared with the original
description of the desired type and that of each plant
from which seed was saved, and the block selected in
which all the plants come the nearest to the desired
type, and which show the least variation. From it
plants are selected in the same way and to the same
type as the previous year. It is better to make selec-
tions from such a block than to take the most supe-
rior plants from all of the blocks, or from one which
produced but one or but a few superlative ones, the
rest being variable.

It is also well to consider the relative importance of
different qualities in connection with the degree to
which the different lots approach the ideal in these
respects. Such a course of selection intelligently and
carefully carried out will give, in from three to five
years, strains of seed greatly superior and better
adapted to one's own conditions than any which it is
possible to purchase. A single or but a very few se-
lections may be made each year, and the superior
value of the seed of the remainder of the seed blocks
for use in the field will be far more than the cost of
the whole work.

Growing and saving commercial seed. — The ideal
way is for the seedsman to grow and select seed as
described above and give this stock seed to farmers
who plant in fields and cultivate it, much as is rec-
ommended for canning, and save seed from the entire
crop, the pulp being thrown away. Only a few pick-
ings are necessary and the seed is separated by ma-
chmes worked by horse power at small cost, often not

Il6 TOMATO CLLTLRli

exceeding lo cents a pound. They secure from 75
to 250 pounds per acre, according to the variety and
crop, and the seedsmen pay them 40 cents to $1 a
pound for it. Some of our more careful seedsmen
produce all the seed they use in this way ; others buy
of professional seed growers, who use more or less
carefully grown stock seed. In other cases when the
fruit is fully ripe it is gathered, and the seeds, pulp
and skins are separated by machinery ; the seed is sold
to seedsmen, the pulp made into catsup, and only the
skins are thrown away. Still others get their supply
by washing out and saving the seed from the waste
of canneries. Such seed is just as good as seed saved
from the satnc grade of tomatoes in any other way, but
the fruit used by the canneries is, usually, a mixture
of different crops and grades, and even of different
varieties, and consequently the seed is mixed and en-
tirely lacking in uniformity and distinctness of type.

Generally from 5 to 20 per cent, of the plants pro-
duced by seed as commonly grown either by the far-
mer himself or the seedsmen, though they may be
alike in more conspicuous characteristics, will show
varietal differences of such importance as to affect
more or less materiall\' the value of the plant for the
conditions and the purposes for which it is grown.
In a book like this it is useless to attempt to give long
varietal descriptions even of the sorts commonly listed
by seedsmen, since such descriptions would be more
a statement of what the writer thought seed of that
variety should be rather than of what one would be
likelv to receive under that name.

CHAPTER XVII

Production for Canning

Growing for canning has many advantages over
growing for market. Some of these are that it is
not necessary to start the plants so early, that they
can be grown at less cost, and set in :he field when
smaller and with less check, and on this latter account
are apt to give a large _. ield. It is not necessary to
gather the fruit so often, nor to handle it so carefully,
while practically ail of it is saleable. For these rea-
sons the cost of production is lower and it is less
variable than with crops grown for market. Still
farmers and writers do not agree at all as to the ac-
tual cost. It is claimed by some that where the fac-
tory is within easy reach of the field the cost of grow-
ing, gathering and delivering a full yield of tomatoes
need not exceed $12 to $18 an acre, while others de-
clare they cannot be grown for less than $40. Nearly
one-third of this cost is for picking and delivering,
and varies more with the facilities for doing this easily
and promptly and with the }ield than with crops
grown for market. A large proportion of the crops
grown for canning are poorly cultivated and unwisely
handled, so that the average yield throughout the en-
tire country is very low. hardly exceeding 100 bushels
an acre. But where weather and other conditions are
favorable, and with judicious cultivation, a yield of

Il8 TOMATO CULTURE

300 to 800 bushels an acre can be expected. I have
known of many larger ones.

A large proportion of the tomatoes grown for can-
ning are planted under contract, by which the farmer
agrees to deliver the entire yield of fruit fit for can-
ning, which may be produced on a given area, at the
contract price per bushel or ton. The canner is to
judge what fruit is fit for canning and this often re-
sults in great dissatisfaction. To the grower it seems
in many cases as though the quantity of acceptable
fruit paid for was determined quite as much by the
abundance or scarcity of the general crop as by the
weight hauled to the factory. The prices paid by the
factories for the past 10 years run from 10 to 25 cents
a bushel, while canning tomatoes in the open market
for the same period have brought from 8 to 50 cents
a bushel, which, however, are exceptional prices. In
all but two of the past 10 years uncontracted tomatoes
could generally be sold, in most sections, for more than
was paid on contract. I have given the price a bushel,
though canning tomatoes are usually sold by the ton.
The cost of the product of a well-equipped cannery
is divided about as follows : fruit, 30 pei* cent. ; hand-
ling, preparing and processing the fruit, 18 per cent. ;
cost of cans, labels, cases, etc., 43 per cent. ; labeling,
packing and selling, 0.035 per cent. ; incidentals, 0.055
per cent.

Canning on the farm. — While as a general propo-
sition such work as canning tomatoes can usually be
done at less cost in a central plant, yet in many cases
the grower can profitably do this on the farm, thus
saving not only the expense of delivery at the factory,

PRODUCTIOX FOR CANNING 1 19

but the dissatisfaction with weights credited and de-
lays in receiving the fruit. But very Httle special
apparatus or machinery (more than some form of
boiler for supplying steam) is needed, and this and
the cans can be readily obtained of dealers in canners'
supplies. In Maryland and neighboring states many
dealers furnish all necessary machinery, cans and
other requisites and contract for the crop delivered
in cans.

An advantage of canning on the farm is that it
can be done with less w^aste of fruit The hauling
to the factory and delay in working the fruit result
in a great deal of waste. The average cannery does
not obtain more than 1,200 pounds of product from
a ton of fruit, there being 800 pounds of waste, while
with sound, ripe, perfectly fresh fruit, it is entirely
practical to secure from i,6oo to i,8oo pounds of
canned goods from a ton, and this saving in waste
would more than counterbalance the gain from the
use of the better machinery possible in the factory.

The process of canning is simple and consists first
of rinsing off the fruit, then in wire baskets or pails
dipping it into boiling hot water to start the skins,
which will require but two to four minutes. While
they are still hot they should be peeled and imper-
fections cut out, then promptly placed in the cans,
which should be fully filled. Place in a hot box for
three to five minutes until heated through, wipe top
of can clean and drop perforated cap in place, add
flux and solder, seal cap in place with round capper,
close perforation in cap with drop of solder- Place
in box or kettle and steam or boil for 20 to 40

I20 TOMATO CULTURE

minutes. If the tomatoes were all ripe and none
over-ripe, and have been kept hot from the time they
went into the scalding kettle until the sealed cans
are in the kettle, 20 minutes' cooking will make them
surer to keep than 40 minutes would with fruit such
as is commonly received at factories, or that which
has been allowed to cool once or twice while in
process.

CHAPTER XVIII

Cost of Production

There are a few vegetables or fruits where the cost
of production and the price received are more varia-
ble than with the tomato. The cost per acre for rais-
ing the fruit varies with the conditions of soil, facili-
ties for doing the work economically and with the
season, while that of marketing the product varies
still more. Under usual conditions, the growing of
an acre of tomatoes and the gathering and marketing
of the fruit will cost from $i8 to $90, of which from
15 to 40 per cent, is spent in fertilizing and preparing
the ground, 5 to 10 per cent, for plants, 20 to 30 per
cent, for cultivation, and 25 to 40 per cent, for gath-
ering and handling the fruit. The last item, of course,
varies somewhat with, but not in proportion to, the
amount of the crop, as it costs proportionately less to
gather a large than a small crop, and for canners' use
than for market.

The expense of shipping and marketing the crop
varies so greatly according to the conditions and
methods that I do not attempt to state the amount.
The total yield of fruit runs from 200 to 600 or 700
bushels to the acre, a 200-bushel crop of tomatoes com-
paring as to amount with one of 25 bushels of wheat
and a 700-bushel crop of tomatoes with one of 60
bushels of wheat ; with the best and wisest cultivation
and under the most favorable conditions one can as

121

122 TOMATO CULTURE

reasonably hope for one as for the other. Of this total
yield, from lo to 25 per cent, of the fruit should be
such as, because of earliness and quality, can be sold
as extras, and there is usually from 5 to 10 per cent.,
and sometimes a much larger per cent., which should
be rejected as unsalable. The selected fruit should
net from $1 to $5 a bushel, the common from 30 to
75 cents — making the returns for a 200-bushel yield
well sold in a nearby market $70 to $350, and propor-
tionately larger, for a better yield. In practice I have
known of crops which gave a profit above expenses of
over $1,000 an acre. This came, however, from ex-
ceptionally favorable conditions and skilled marketing,
and I have known of many more crops where, though
the fruit was equally large and well grown, the profit
was less than $100.

In this country a greenhouse is seldom used solely
for the growing of tomatoes, but other crops — such
as lettuce — are grown in connection with the tomatoes,
so that it is impracticable to give the cost of produc-
tion. As grown at the Ohio state experiment station —
and the crop ripened in late spring or early summer
and sold on the market of smaller cities — greenhouse
tomatoes have yielded about two pounds a square foot
of glass and brought an average price of 12 cents per
pound. In other cases yields as high as 10 pounds a
foot of glass and an average price of 40 cents a
pound have been reported.

CHAPTER XIX
Insects Injurious to the Tomato

By Dr. F. H. Chittenden
Biireau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture

From the time tomato plants are set in the field
until the fruit has ripened they are subject to the
attacks of insects which frequently cause serious in-
jury. On the whole, however, the tomato is not so
susceptible to damage as are some related crops —
such as the potato.

Cutworms. — Of insects most to be feared and of
those which attack the plants when they are first set
out are cutworms of various species. The grower is
as a rule quite too familiar with these insects, and no
description of their methods is necessary, beyond the
statement that they cut off and destroy more than
they eat and re-setting is frequently necessary. The
best remedy is a poisoned bait, prepared by dipping
bunches of clover, weeds, or other vegetation in a
solution of Paris green or other arsenical, i pound to
lOO gallons of water. These baits are distributed in
small lots over the ground before the plants are set,
the precaution being observed that the land is free
for two or three weeks from any form of vegetation.
This will force the hungry "worms" to feed on the
baits, to their prompt destruction. A bran-mash is
also used instead of weeds or clover, and is prepared

123

124

TOMA'IO CULTURE

by combining one part by weight of arsenic, one of
sugar, and six of sweetened bran, with enough water
added to make a mash. The baits are renewed if they
become too dry, or they can be kept moist by placing
them under shingles or pieces of board.

Flea-beetles attack the plants soon after they are

FIG. 35 — CUTWORM AND PARENT MOTH (Feltia subgothica)

(From Chittenden, U. S. Department of Agriculture)

set, and their injuries can be prevented by dipping
the young plants before setting in a solution of arse-
nate of lead, about i pound to 50 gallons of water,
or Paris green, i pound to 100 gallons. If this pre-
caution has not been observed a spray of either of
these arsenicals used in the proportion specified will
suffice, repeating if the insects continue on the plants.
In the preparation of the spray a pound of fresh lime
to each pound of the arsenical should be added; or,
better yet, Bordeaux mixture should be employed as
a diluent instead of water. This mixture has some
insecticidal value, is a most valuable fungicide, and

j.\si-:c "IS ixiikiors lo riiK io^mato

12 =

is also a powerful deterrent of flea-beetle attack, act-
ing to a less degree against other insects which are
apt to be found on the tomato. In applying any spray
a sprayer costing not less than $7 is a positive necessity.

FIG. 36 — FLEA-BEETLE

Does great injury to young
plants. Much enlarged. Ac-
tual size shown by line at
right. (From Chittenden)

FIG. 2)7 — MARGINED

BLISTER BEETLE
(From t'liittenden)

The Colorado potato beetle, or ''potato bug," some-
times injures tomatoes, but not as a rule when pota-
toes are available. This suggests the use of pota-
toes as a trap crop, planted in about three rows com-
pletely around the field of tomatoes. The arsenicals
used in the same proportion as for flea-beetles will
destroy the potato beetle. It is necessary to keep the
trap potatoes well sprayed to prevent them from breed-
ing on these plants and migrating to the tomatoes.
Potato beetles can also be controlled by jarring them
from the affected plants into large pans containing
a little water on which a thin scum of kerosene is
floating.

Blister beetles may be controlled, under ordinary

126

TOMAIO flT/rURE

circumstances, by the same method employed against
the Colorado beetle. When they are present in great
numbers a good remedy consists in driving them with
the wind from the cultivated fields into windrows of
straw or similar dry material previously prepared

FIG. 38 — TOMATO WORM (Protoporce sexta)

(0) Adult moth; (b) full-grown larva; (c) pupa — all reduced
(After Howard, V. S. Dept. Agr.)

along the leeward side of the field, where they will
congregate and can be burned.

The tomato worms, of which there are two com-
mon species closely resembling each other, are often
abundant and destructive on tomato foliage, partic-
ularly southward. The arsenicals will kill them, or
they can be held in check by hand-picking, a little

INSECTS IXll'RlOL'S TO THE TOMATO

127

experience enabling one to detect their presence read-
ily. Turkeys are utilized in destroying these worms
in the South.

The stalk-borer, as its name implies, attacks the

FIG. 39 — TOMATO STALK-BORER (Papaipemo nitela)

(a) Female moth; (b) half-grown larva; (c) mature larva in injured

stalk; (rf) lateral view of abdominal segment; (e) pupa — all somewhat

enlarged. (From Chittenden, U. S. Dept. Agr. )

Stalk, and is an intermittent pest, though quite annoy-
ing at times. It is difificult to combat, but its injuries
may be prevented by care in keeping down, and by
■promptly destroying, the weeds after they are pulled
or hoed out during the growing season. If weeds
are left to dry the striped caterpillar of this species

128

TOMATO CL'LTURIi:

will desert them and enter cultivated plants. Rag-
weed and burdock are the principal foods of this in-
sect, and special attention should be given to erad-
icate them where tomatoes are planted. Crop rota-
tion is advisable where this can be conveniently prac-
ticed, and such plants as cabbage, radish and the like,
onions, beets, asparagus and celery are suggested as

sS^y

FIG. 40— CHARACTERISTIC WORK OF THE TOMATO FRUIT WORM

{Hcliothis obsolcta)
(Redrawn by Johnson from C. V. Riley)

alternates. When the plants are sprayed with arsen-
icals for other insects this will operate to a certain
extent against the stalk-borer.

The tomato fruit worm (Fig. 40) known as the
bollworni of cotton and the ear worm of corn, is fre-
quently the cause of serious trouble to tomato growers,
especially in the southern states, due to its pernicious
habit of eating into and destroying the green and
ripening fruit. For its control it is advisable not to

INSECTS IX.TURIOLS TO THE TOMATO I29

plant tomatoes in proximity to old corn or cotton
fields, nor should land be used in regions where this
species is abundant until it has been fall or winter
plowed. Sweet corn planted about the field before
the tomatoes are set will serve as a lure for the parent
moths to deposit their eggs, corn and cotton being
favorite foods of this species and preferred to toma-
toes. The fruit worm feeds to a certain extent on the

FIG. 41 — ADULT MOTH, OR PARENT OF

TOMATO FRUIT WORM

(From Chittenden, U. S. Department of Agriculture)

foliage before penetrating the fruit, and it is possible
to keep it in subjection by spraying with arsenicals
as advised for the flea-beetles. It is suggested that
arsenate of lead, being more adhesive than other
arsenicals, should be used for the first sprayings, be-
ginning when the fruit commences to form, repeating
once or twice as found necessary, and making a last
spraying with Paris green within a few days of ripen-
ing. This last poison will readily wash ofif and there
is no danger whatever of poisoning to human beings,
as has been conclusively proved in numerous similar
cases. For the perfect success of this remedy the

1^0 TOMATO CL'LTURE

last spraying is essential, as those who have sprayed
with an arsenical and have reported only partial good
results have discontinued within about two weeks of
the time of the ripening of the first fruit.

White fly or aleyrodes. — These minute insects are
familiar to most growers who raise tomatoes under
glass. They can be held in control by vaporization
or fumigation with tobacco or nicotine extracts, or
by spraying with kerosene emulsion or the so-called
whale-oil (fish-oil) soap. Care is necessary in using
the extracts that the smudge does not become too
dense and injure the plants. Before applying this
remedy on a large scale a preliminary trial should be
made following the directions on the packages, and
reducing the amount if any ill results follow. Hydro-
cyanic acid gas, properly used, is also an excellent
remedy for aleyrodes, aphides, "mealy-bug," and
other soft-bodied insects which are sometimes troub-
lesome on greenhouse tomatoes.

For a complete account of the methods of making and
handling hydrocyanic acid gas, see Professor Johnson's book
entitled "Fumigation Methods," published by Orange Judd
Company, of New York. Sent postpaid for $i. — [Author.

CHAPTER XX
Tomato Diseases

By W. A. Orton
U. S. Department of Agriculture

DISEASES NOT CAUSED BY FUNGI OR INSECTS

The health of tomato plants is to a large extent
dependent on the conditions under which they are
being grown. The character and physical condition
of the soil, the supply of water and plant food, the
temperature and amount of sunlight, are all factors
of the greatest importance in the growth and devel-
opment of the crop. When there are variations from
the normal in the case of any of these the plant adapts
itself to the change as far as possible, but its func-
tions may be so disturbed as to result in ill health or
disease. It is in many cases difficult to draw a line
between a natural re-action of the plant to its environ-
ment and a state of disease. For example, the trouble
described in the next paragraph seems to fall into the
first class.

Shedding of blossoms, — The tomato is very liable
to drop its buds and blossoms and in some instances
partial or total crop failures have resulted. The prin-
cipal causes are an over-rapid growth, due in many
cases to an excess of nitrogenous fertilizers, unfavor-
able weather conditions, especially cold winds, contin-
ued rainy or moist weather, which hinders pollina-

131

132 TOMATO CULTURE

tion. lack of sunlight, or extremely hot weather. Such
shedding can be partially controlled by pruning away
the lateral branches as soon as formed and topping
the plants after the third cluster of fruit has set, and
by a reduction in the use of nitrogenous fertilizers.
A failure to set fruit in the greenhouse is often due to
lack of pollination, which must be remedied by hand
pollination.

Cracking of the fruit. — The formation of cracks
or fissures in the nearly mature fruit is due to varia-
tions in the water supply and other conditions affect-
ing growth at this stage. If after the development of
the outer portion of the fruit has been checked by
drought there follows a period of abundant water
supply and rapid growth, the fruit expands more rap-
idly than its epidermis and the latter is ruptured.
Some varieties of tomatoes are nuich less subject to
this trouble than others and should be given prefer-
ence on this account. The grower, so far as lies in
his power, should seek to maintain an uninterrupted
growth by thorough preparation of the land, by culti-
vation or by mulching. If the half-grown fruits are
enclosed in paper bags, cracking may be prevented,
but at the risk of loss of flavor in the ripened fruit.

Leaf curl. — The effect of pruning is to stimulate
growth and to increase the size of the leaves, the
effort of the plant being to maintain a balance between
roots and foliage. With rapidly growing plants, espe-
cially in the greenhouse and garden where both high
manuring and pruning have been practiced, more or
less curling and distortion of the leaves may result
AitliQut developing into serious trouble if the grower

TOMATO DISEASES 133

takes the hint and modifies his methods so as to per-
mit a more balanced growth. On the other hand, the
ill effects of over-feeding and pruning may reach a
])oint where the i)lant is seriously crippled.

Edema. — Under certain conditions plants in green-
houses or even in the open field, may absorb water
through the roots faster than it can be transpired
through the leaves, with the result that dropsical swell-
ings or blisters occur on the leaves and more succulent
stems. There is also a deformation of the foliage,
much like the leaf-curi produced by over-feeding.
This trouble, known as edema, occurs when the soil
is warmer than the air, or during periods of moist,
warm, cloudy weather, which checks transpiration.
The grower should cease pruning, and withhold water,
and in the field cultivate deeply. In the greenhouse,
adequate ventilation should be given, keeping the house
dry rather than moist.

Mosaic disease. — The tomato is occasionally sub-
ject to a trouble allied to the mosaic disease of tobacco.
It is characterized by a variegation of the leaves into
light and dark green areas, usually accompanied by
distortion and reduction in size. In severe cases a
whole field may become worthless. While the nature
of this malady is not fully vinderstood, it is known to
be due to a disordered nutrition of the young leaf-cells.
It can be produced by severe pruning or by mutila-
tion of the roots in transplanting, both of which should
be carefully avoided. It is more likely to occur in
seedlings that have made a soft, rapid growth on ac-
count of an excess of nitrogenous fertilizer or too high
temperature. Close. cla\ey soils, on account of their

134 TOMATO CULTURE

poor physical condition, also favor the development
of the disease after transplanting.

Western blight (Yellows). — In the North Pacific
and Rocky ^Mountain states, serious losses are an-
nually caused by a disease apparently unlike any east-
ern trouble. It is marked by a gradual yellowing of
the foliage and fruit. Development is checked, the
leaves curl upward and the plant dies without wilting.
The nature and cause of this disease is as yet unknown.
It appears to be worst on new land. Experiments
that have been made indicate that in older cultivated
fields thorough preparation of the soil, manuring and
cultivation, combined with care in transplanting to
avoid injuring the roots and checking growth, will
greatly restrict the spread of this blight.

DISEASES CAUSED BY PARASITES

There are several fungous parasites of tomatoes,
which, for the readers convenience, may be briefly men-
tioned and the treatment of all discussed together. The
first three are indeed somewhat difficult to tell apart
without a microscope, as they produce a similar effect
on the leaves and all yield to the same treatment —
thorough spraying with Bordeaux mixture.

Leaf spot {Scptoria lycopersici Speg.) has been
widely prevalent and injurious during recent years.
It produces small, roundish dark-brown spots on leaves
and stems. The lower leaves are attacked first and
gradually curl up, die and fall ofif. The vitality of the
l)lant is reduced and it is only kept alive by the young
leaves formed at the top.

TOMATO DISEASES 1 35

The fungus that causes early bhght of potatoes
{Alterjiaria solaiii (E. & AI.) J. & G.) occurs on to-
matoes also, sometimes doing much injury. The spots
formed are at first small and black, later enlarging
and exhibiting fine concentric rings.

A somewhat similar leaf-blight results from a spe-
cies of Cyliiidrosporiiini, and other fungi may occur
on diseased leaves.

Leaf mold {Cladosporiiiui fiilvuin Cke.) is quite
distinct from the foregoing in appearance. It does
not cause such distinct spots but occurs in greenish
brown, velvety patches of irregular outline on the un-
der side of the leaves. The lower leaves are first at-
tacked, and as the disease progresses they turn yellow
and drop off. This is the principal fungous enemy of
greenhouse tomatoes, but also does injury in gardens,
particularly in Florida and the Gulf region. It is read-
ily controlled by spraying. In the greenhouse care
should be taken to ventilate well, without, however, al-
lowing cold drafts to strike the plants.

■&owny mildew { Pliytopfhora iiifcstaiis DeBy.), the
cause of the late blight of potatoes, will attack toma-
toes during cool and very moist weather, which greatly
favors its development. Such outbreaks sometimes
occur to a limited extent in New England and serious
losses are reported on the winter crop in southern
California, but the disease has never been troublesome
in other sections of the country, as it cannot develop
in dry or hot weather. It affects the tomato as it does
the potato, forming on the leaves dark, discolored
spots, which spread rapidly under favorable condi-
tions, killing the foliage in a few days. The fruit is

136 TOMATO CULTURE

also attacked and becomes covered with the mildew-
like spore-bearing threads of the fungus. Bordeaux
mixture properly applied is an efficient preventive.

Spraying tomatoes. — It should be the invariable
l)ractice of the tomato grower to spray with Bordeaux
mixture to prevent injury from any of these leaf-
l)lights. This should be done while the plants are still
healthy, as if put oft until the disease appears the
battle is half lost. Make the first application to the
young plants in the seed-bed a few days before trans-
planting. Spray again within a week after the plants
are set in the field, and repeat at intervals of ten days
or two weeks until the fruit is full grown. Success in
spraying depends mainly on the thoroughness of the
work. The aim should be to cover every leaf with a
fine mist. Do not drench the foliage but pass to the
next plant before the drops run together and off the
leaf. Use a nozzle that gives a fine spray and main-
tain a high pressure at the pump.

Preparation of Bordeaux mixture. — Formula: Cop-
per sulphate ( bluestone ) , 5 pounds ; lime, 5 pounds ;
and water, 50 gallons. The copper sulphate may be
either in crystals or pulverized. Dissolve by suspend-
ing the required amount in a coarse sack near the top
of the water a few hours before it will be needed. The
lime must be fresh stone lime of good quality. Slake
thoroughly by the addition of small quantities of water
at a time as needed, stirring until all small lumps
are slaked. Strain both the lime milk and the cop-
per sulphate or bluestone solution through a brass
strainer of t8 meshes per inch and dilute each with
half the water before mixing together. Do not use

TOMATO DISEASES

137

Bordeaux left over from the previous day. An old
mixture or one made from the concentrated solutions
has a poor physical condition. It settles more quickly,
tends to clog the nozzle and does not adhere so well
to the foliage. I""ailure to use the strainer results in
endless trouble in the field from clogged nozzles.

FIG. 42 — PROPER \V.\Y TO MAKE BORDEAUX
(From W. G. Johnson)

When much spraying is to be done it is more con-
venient to keep the bluestone and lime in separate
permanent stock solutions, as shown in Fig. 42, con-
taining 2 pounds to the gallon of their respective in-
gredients. These will keep indefinitely, if the water
evaporated is replaced, and may be used from as
needed.

Spraying apparatus. — Tomato growers having only
a small area to spray may use one of the numerous
forms of hand-pumps or bucket sprayers now on the

138 TOMATO CULTURE

market. For larger fields it will be necessary to em-
ploy a barrel sprayer. This consists of a hand-pump
mounted in a barrel or tank and equipped with two
leads of ^ inch hose 25 feet long, each with a four-foot
extension made from ^ inch gas pipe, and a double
Vermorel nozzle. The barrel should be carried in an
ordinary farm wagon. Three men do the work. One
is expected to drive and pump, while the other two
manipulate the nozzles. The outfit is stopped while
the plants within reach are sprayed, then driven for-
ward about 30 feet and stopped again. On an average
in actual field practice 3 to 4 acres a day can be
sprayed in this way, applying 100 <:o 200 gallons of
Bordeaux per acre. To keep the long hose ofif the
plants two poles about 10 feet long may be pivoted to
the bed of the wagon so as to swing at an angle over
the wheel and carry the hose. The pump for this out-
fit should be of good capacity, with brass valves. A
"Y" shut-off discharge connection on the pump is a
convenience for stopping the spray at any time. The
most satisfactory nozzles are those of the Vermorel
type. It is cheapest in the long run to buy the best
grades of pumps on the market. This outfit is excel-
lently adapted for spraying small fields of potatoes and
for general orchard work, and is invaluable on the
average farm.

Phytoptosis. — This disease is known to occur only
in Florida, where it is sometimes common enough to
require remedial treatment. The affected portions of
the foliage are more or less distorted and covered with
an ashy white fuzz. The general vigor and fruitful-
ness of the plants are greatly reduced. The name

TOMATO DISEASES 1 39

applied to this trouble denotes its cause, an extremely
small mite {Phytoptus calacladopliora Nal.), which
by its presence on the leaves or stems so irritates them
as to result in the abundant development of modified
plant hairs, which shelter the mites and form the
fuzzy covering characteristic of the disease. A rem-
edy for phytoptosis is available in the sulphur com-
pounds. The following" one is particularly recom-
mended by Prof. P. H. Rolfs, to whom our knowledge
of the disease is due :

Preparation of sulphur spray. — Place 30 pounds
of flowers of sulphur in a wooden tub large enough to
hold 25 gallons. Wet the sulphur with 3 gallons of
water, stir it to form a paste. Then add 20 pounds of
98 per cent, caustic soda (28 pounds should be used
if the caustic soda is 70 per cent.) and mix it with the
sulphur paste. In a few minutes it becomes very hot,
turns brown, and becomes a liquid. Stir thoroughly
and add enough water to make 20 gallons. Pour off
from the sediment and keep the liquid as a stock so-
lution in a tight barrel or keg. Of this solution use
4 quarts to 50 gallons of water. Apply with a spray
pump whenever the disease appears, and repeat if re-
quired by its later reappearance. The use of dry sul-
phur is also recommended.

DISEASE.S OF THE FRUIT

Point-rot. — This trouble, called also "blossom-end
rot," and "black-rot," occurs on the green fruit at
various stages of development, as shown in Fig. 43.
It begins at the blossom end as a sunken brown spot.

T40 TOMATO CULTURE

which graduaUy enlarges until the fruit is rendered
worthless. The decayed spot is often covered in its
later stages by a dense black fungous growth {Alter-
iiaria fasciculata (C. & E.) J. & G. syn. Macrosporium
tomato Cke.), formerly thought to be the cause of the

FIG. 43 — POINT-KOT DISEASE OF THE TOMATO
(Redrawn from N. Y. Expr. Sta. No. 125)

rot, but now known to be merely a saprophyte. Point-
rot sometimes occurs in greenhouses, but is more com-
mon in field culture. It is one of the most destructive
diseases of the tomato, but its nature is not fully
worked out, and a uniformly successful treatment is
unknown. It has been thought to be due to bacte-
rial invasion, but complete demonstrations of that fact

TOMATO 1)1SI-:ASES 14!

have not yet been published. The physiological con-
ditions of the plant appear to be important. The dis-
ease is worst in dry weather and light soils, where the
moisture supply is insufficient, and irrigation is bene-
ficial in such cases. Spraying does not control point-
rot so far as present evidence goes.

Anthracnose — ripe-rot — (CoUetotrichiiin phomoides
( Sacc. ) Chest. ) . is distinguished from the point-rot
by the fact that it occurs mainly on ripe or nearly
ripe fruits, producing a soft and rapid decay. Wide-
spread losses from this cause are not common, but
when a field becomes infected a considerable propor-
tion of the crop within a limited area may be destroyed
if humid or rainy weather prevails. Preventive meas-
ures only can be employed. These should consist in
collecting and destroying diseased fruit and in sta-
king and trimming the vines to admit light and air to
dry out the foliage. Bordeaux mixture applied after the
development of the disease would be of doubtful effi-
ciency and would be objectionable on account of the
sediment left on the ripe fruit.

DISEASES OF THE ROOT OR STEM

Damping off. — Young plants in seed-beds often
perish suddenly from a rot of the stem at the surface
of the ground. This occurs as a rule in dull, cloudy
weather among plants kept at too high a temperature,
crowded too closely in the beds or not sufficiently ven-
tilated. Several kinds of fungi are capable of causing
damping off, under such conditions.

Preventive measures are of the first importance.

142 TOMATO CLLTURE

Since old soil is often full of fungous spores left by pre-
vious crops, it is the wisest plan to use sterilized soil
for the seed-bed. When the young plants are growing,
constant watchfulness is required to avoid conditions
that will weaken the seedlings and favor the damping
ofif fungi.

Watering and ventilation are the two points that
require especial skill. Watering should be done at
midday, to allow the beds to drain before night, and
only enough water for the thorough moistening of the
soil should be applied. Ventilation should be given
every warm day as the temperature and sunshine will
permit, but the plants must be protected ■ from rain
and cold winds. Work the surface of the soil to per-
mit aeration and do not crowd the plants too closely
in the beds. If damping off develops something can
be done to check it b}' scattering a layer of dry, warm
sand over the surface, and by spraying the bed thor-
oughly wdth weak Bordeaux or by applying dry sul-
phur and air-slaked lime.

SBacterial wilt (Bacterinni solanaeeantm Erw. Sm.).
— This disease, which also attacks potatoes and egg-
plants and some related weeds, is one of the most
serious enemies of the tomato. It is known to occur
from Connecticut southward to Florida and westward
to Colorado, but is most prevalent in the Gulf States,
where it has greatly discouraged many growers.

Its most prominent symptoms are the wilting of the
foliage and a browning of the wood inside the recently
wilted stems. An affected plant wilts first at the top,
or a single branch wilts, but later the entire plant yel-
lows, wilts and dies. Young plants wilt more sud-

TOMATO DISEASES I43

denly and an up. The disease progresses more rapidly
in plants that have made a succulent, luxurious growth,
while those with hard, woody stems resist it somewhat.

The disease is due to the invasion of bacteria, which
enter the leaves through the aid of leaf-eating insects,
or through the roots. They plug the water-carrying
vessels of the stem, shutting off the water and food
supply of the plant. If the stem of a plant freshly
wilted from this disease be severed, the bacteria will
ooze out in dirty white drops on the cut surface.

Remedial measures entirely satisfactory for the
control of bacterial wilt have not yet been worked out.
The best methods to adopt at present are the following :

(i) Rotation of crops. — The field evidence is that
this disease is in many cases localized in old gardens
or in definite spots in the field. It appears also that
the infection left by a diseased crop can remain in the
soil for some time. It is therefore advised that tomato
growers should always practice a rotation of crops,
whether any disease has appeared or not, and that in
case bacterial wilt develops they should not plant that
land in tomatoes, potatoes, or eggplants for three or
four years. The length of rotation necessary to free
the soil is not known, but will have to be worked out
by the individual grower.

(2) Destruction of diseased plants. — The bactena
causing wilt not only spread through the soil but are
carried by insects from freshly wilted to healthy plants.
Diseased plants thus become dangerous sources of in-
fection, and it is evident that all such should be pulled
out and burned. This is particularly important at the

144 TOMATO cir/ruRK

beginning of the trouble when the eradication of a
few wilting plants may save the remainder.

(3) Control of insects. — To lessen the danger from
spread of wilt by insects, the measures advised in the
next chapter for the control of leaf-eating insects
should be adopted. In this connection it should be
mentioned that the use of Bordeaux mixture for leaf
blights, as previously recommended, has an additional
value in that the coating on the leaves is distasteful
to insects and helps to keep them away.

(4) Seed selection. — Work done at the Florida ex-
periment station indicates that resistant varieties may
be secured, but there are as yet none in commercial
use. This is an important line for experimenters to
follow up. There is no proof that the disease is spread
through seed from diseased plants.

"Fusarium wilt. — This disease and the one follow-
ing resemble the bacterial wilt so closely, as far as ex-
ternal characters go, that they are difficult to tell apart.
The parasites, however, differ so materially in their
nature and life history that the field treatment is quite
different. There are also differences in geographical
distribution that are important, for while the Fusarium
wilt occurs occasionally throughout the southern states,
it is known to be of general commercial importance
only in southern Florida and southern California.

The symptoms of the disease are a gradual wilting
and dying of the plants, usually in the later stages of
their development. Young plants die, however, when
the soil infection is severe. There is a browning of
the woody portions of the stem, and when a section
of this is examined under a compound microscope the

TOMATO DlSliASES I45

vessels are found to be tilled with fungous threads,
which shut off the water supply.

The infection in the Fusariuni wilt appears to come
entirely from the soil. Little is known of its manner
of spread, except that the cultivation of a tomato crop
in certain districts appears to leave the soil infected
so that a crop planted the next year will be injured or
destroyed. The fungus does not remain in the soil
for a very long time in sufficient abundance to cause
serious harm. A rotation of crops that will bring
tomatoes on the land once in three years has been
found in Florida to prevent loss from Fusariuni wilt.

This fungus does not attack atiy other crop than
tomatoes, so far as known, though it is very closely re-
lated to species of Fusariuni producing similar dis-
eases in cotton, melon, cowpea, flax, etc. Fusarium
wilt has not been found in fields and gardens in the
northern states, but tomatoes in greenhouses there are
sometimes attacked by it or a related Fusariuni, which
also occurs in England. When greenhouse beds are
infected the soil for the next crop should be thoroughly
sterilized by steam under pressure.

Sclerotium wilt. — This disease resembles the two
preceding in its effect on the plant, which w'ilts at the
tip first, and gradually dies. Its geographical range
is more restricted. It seems to be confined to north-
ern Florida and the southern part of Georgia and Ala-
bama, where it occurs in gardens and old cultivated
fields. The fungus causing this wilt attacks the root
and the stem near the ground, working in from the out-
side. There is not the browning of the wood vessels
characteristic of the two preceding diseases. If an

146 TOMATO CULTURE

affected stem is put in a moist chamber made from
a covered or inverted dish, there will develop an ex-
ceedingly vigorous growth of snow-white fungous my-
celium which, after a few days, bears numerous round
shot-like bodies, at first light-colored, then becoming
smaller and dark-brown. These are the sclerotia or
resting bodies of the fungus. This fungus, called
Sclerotium sp., or "Rolf's Sclerotium," is noteworthy
because it attacks potatoes, squash, cowpea, and a long
list of other garden vegetables and ornamental plants.
The only satisfactory means of control is rotation of
crops, using corn, small grain, and the Iron cowpea, a
variety immune to this and other diseases. Suscep-
tible crops should be kept from infected fields for two
or three years.

Root-knot {Heterodera radicicola (Greef) Miil.)
attacks tomatoes in greenhouses and is in some cases
an important factor in southern field culture. It is
caused by a parasitic eelworm or nematode, of minute
size, which penetrates the roots and induces the for-
mation of numerous irregular swellings or galls, in
which are bred great numbers of young worms. The
effect on the plant is to check growth and diminish
fruitfulness, in advanced cases even resvilting in death.

The remedy in greenhouse culture is thorough soil
sterilization. In the open field this is impracticable
and recourse must be had to a rotation with immune
crops, which will starve out the root-knot. It must now
be borne in mind that the root-knot worm can attack
cotton, cowpea, okra, melons and a very large number
of other plants. The only common crops safe to use
in such a rotation in the South are corn, oats, velvet

TOMATO DISEASES

147

beans, beggar weed, peanuts, and the Ir- -wpea
The use of other varieties of cowpea than the Iron 1
particularly to be avoided, on account of the danger o
stocking the land with root-knot. Fortunately, the
disease is serious only in sandy or light soils.

Rosette {Corticium vagum (B. & C.) var solam
Burt ) is a disease of minor importance, which occurs
in Ohio, Michigan, and scatteringly in other states.
The fungus causing it {Rhiaoctoma) attacks the roots
and base of the stem, forming dark cankers The et-
. feet on the plant is to dwarf and curl the leaves and
to restrict productiveness. The potato suffers more
severely from the same trouble. Rotation of crops
and liberal application of lime to the soil are advised
for the control of rosette in tomatoes.

INDEX

PAi;i;

Adaptations of varieties . . 97

as to habit 97

as to foliage 100

as to fruit 102

Botany 1

Canning, cost of 118

on the farm 118

Essentials for successful . .119

Catalog descriptions incomplete 110

Characteristics of blossom . . 25

Claracteristics of fruit . . 26

Development from original

form 26

Effect of conditions on . . 26

Quality 26

Characteristics of plant . . 20
Checking of growth, effect

upon 20

Natural environment . . 20
Uniform growth, importance

of 21

Characteristics of root ... 23
Characteristics of stem and

leaves 24

Classification 4

Cherry 5

Cultivated varieties . . . 10

Currant 4

Pear 7

Cold-frames, construction . . S3

Commercial importance of crop 18
Cost of crop, per acre . . .121
as grown for canners . .117

Covers for plant beds ... 55

Cultivation 76

Care and thoroughness neces-
sary 76

in greenhouse 77

in home garden , . . . "7

148

PAGE

Diseases 131

Bacterial wilt 142

Blight, early 135

Blight, leaf 134

Blight, Western . . . .134

Cracking of fruit .... 132

Damping off 141

Edema 133

Fusarium wilt 144

Leaf curl 132

Leaf mold 135

Leaf spot 134

Mildew, downey .... 135

^Mosaic disease 133

Phytoptosis 138

Point rot 139

Root knot 146

Sclerotium wilt .... 145

Yellows 134

Diseases, remedies for . . . 131
Bordeaux mixture, prepara-
tion of 136

Preventatives of ... . 143

Spraying apparatus . . . 137

Spraying, importance of . 136

Sulphur spraying .... 139

Distances for setting plants . 68

in field ....... 68

in greenhouse 70

in home garden .... 69

Drainage, importance of . . 31

Essentials for best development 28

Cultivation 32, 76

Effect of shade .... 28
Food supply .... 31, 43

Heat 38

Aloisture 30

Sunlight 28

INDEX

149

PAGE

Exposure 38

for early croji 39

for greenhouse .... 40

for home garden .... 40

Fertilizers 43

Amounts 43

Character 44

Experiments with . . . .45

for general application . . 44

for greenhouse .... 45

for home garden .... 45

Flats, construction . . . .57

Gathering fruit 91

Habit 22

Handling fruit 92

History 14

Hotbeds, construction . . . 51

Hotbeds, growing fruit in . . "0

House, construction .... 49

Insects injurious to tomatoes . 123

Blister beetle 125

Colorado potato beetle . .125

Cut worm 123

Flea-beetle 124

Stalk-borer 127

Tomato fruit worm . . .128

Tomato worm 126

White fly 130

Location of field as determining

profit 38

Manure

Fall dressing 41

for cold-frames . . . .55

for greenhouse soil ... 37

for hotbeds 51

in preparing ground ... 46

Origin . ...... 10

Origin of name 14

Packing 94

Pollenating TJ

Pollenation ....
Prices obtained

at canneries

for hothouse fruit .

for select field grown fru
Profits on crop
Propagation of plants .

from cuttings

from seed ....

in cold-frames .

in hotbeds ....

in temporary greenhouses
Pruning

Ripening on the vines
Ripening after frost

Sash, cost ....
for hotbeds ,
for cold-frames
Seed breeding

Essentials to success
Growing and saving commer
cial seed
Methods followed
Prices received
Yields obtained
Importance of breeding f

individual plants
Importance of exact ideal
Methods recommended
Principles underlying
Setting plants

Conditions favorable and

favorable
in field ....
in greenhouse
in home garden
New Jersey method
Other methods .
Soil

Composition, importance of
Conditions essential

Preparation 41

for greenhouse .
for home garden

48
49
48, 49

53
51
49
80

118
122
122
122

90
95

112

113

70,

115
115
116
116

114
113
113
112

71
70
74
74

71
li

24
41
46
47
47

I50

INDEX

Soil Preparation

for main crop .... 46

Importance of

Selection

3,?

for early crop

for greenhouse

for home garden

for main crop

Previous crop

Sorting ....

Staking ....

Starting plants

Effect of shade

for early fruit

for forcing

for home garden

for late crop

in flats ....

in greenhouse .

Pricking out

Right conditions

6 2

Spotting boards

Unfavorable condition;

Watering

With least labor .

Succession, practice in tlic

South

PAGE

Training 79

for greenhouse , . . , SH

for home garden .... 85

Types 14

\'alue, development of ... 16
\'ariations

in foliage 100

in fruit 102

Coloring 106

Flesh 105

Ripening 106

Shape 102

in habit 97

Varietal differences

as to foliage 100

as to fruit 102

as to growth 97

\'ariety names 108

Sources 109

X'arying aiiplication . . .110

\\'atering, danger in . . 30, 60

Yielding capacity 22

Yield per acre ... 117, 121
Yield per foot of greenhouse

bench 122

University of British Columbia Library

DUE DATE

\* •

ACT 1 V

OCT 17

IV^Ah w :^ -

r o 1 7 recd

1 ■' '', - '■ ^'

AUG ii ^f^"

^■fy

FORM 310

I—

O..

fCRfSTRY
LIBRARY

f?s^Sii'

FORESTRY

AGRiCULTURE

Ui>3RARY

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Tomato culture; a practical treatise on the tomato, its history, characteristics, planting, fertilization, cultivation in field, garden, and green house, harvesting, packing, storing, marketing, insect enemies and diseases, with methods of control and remedies, etc., etc"

See other formats