The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-05-09
The TomatO..Its Uses and Cultivation.

The following letter on this subject
will be interesting to our readers, we
copy it from the Working Farmer,
a well-known periodical published in
New York by Charles V. Mapes.
To the Editor of the Working Farmer:
DEAR SIR Since you and many
other cultivators of the Tomato, have
expressed your surprise and satisfac-
ton on examining some of my Seed
ling tomatoes and desire to know
their origin and proper treatment. /
will with pleasure comply with your
request.
Until within few years, very little
was knownin this country about the To-
mato. 1t was grown as an embellish-
ment in some corner of flower garden,
and called the Lore Apple. Now it is an
article of daily food and in a few years
it will be in common use in almost
every part of the globe. Its culture
and use will everywhere extend, just
in proportion as reliable and exact in
formation on the subject is spread. 1t
does not take long to scatter facts.
The human race is coming near togeth
er, and all facts concerning our common
welfare should be freely disseminated.
have grown the Tomato, and watch
ed its culture in many of the climates
and countries of Europe and America,
and will furnish my little quota of
observation and practical experience,
hoping thereby to draw out valuable
information from others. Everybody
knows something of the value of the
Tomato as fruit, and how we should
miss it if it could be raised no more.
But very few persons know how easily
and abundantly it can be grown in per-
lection, how cheaply it can be preserv-
ed for future use in many forms, nor
its valuable medical properties as con-
ducive to health and vitality. l will
speak only on two or three of these
points.
lst. The best Kinds and Varieties.
Six years ago I began a more thor
ough system of experiments than / had
ever practiced or seen. prepared my
beds for growing tomatoes, and the an
alysis of the soil correspondent very
closely with the chemical eomponents
of the fruit. / then terminated ten or
twelve of the finest varieties / had, or
could get, and obtained large, vigor-
Gus plants of the same kinds from our
New York gardens. One of each was
planted by itself, where it could not n.y.
bridize. In another bed / planted all
the varieties together, to make them
hybridize, and multiply new kinds.
n succeeded in getting one variety,
which / found superior to any had
ever seen, in the following qualities
~ delicacy of flavor, thinness and
smoothness of skin, fewness of seeds,
solidity Of meat, earliness of ripening
richness of color, evenness of size, and
ease of culture. The next year / cast
all other varieties away, and brought
this to perfection and it has been uni
versally pronounced by Agricultural
Fairs, Farmers clubs, and Scientific
Horticulturists, to be superior to any
other.
I'd. My Mode Of Culture,-Germin-
ate in a dollhouse, hot-bed or kitchen
for very early fruit, transplant when
Quite small into pots. The Tomato
improves by every transplanting, and
each time should be set deeper. From
the time four or sixleaves appear, pinch
or cut off the larger lower leaves and
the terminal buds, and continue this
process of pruning, tilktbe fruit is far
advanced, SO that when ripe, the beds
will seem to be covered nv one mass
Of large, smooth, even sized, Tomatoes,
OF the richest pomegranate color-and
the leaves hidden by the fruit.
Set plants three OF four feet apart,
in the warmest spotyo have, and let |
them fall over to- the North frames
twelve or fifteen inches Aiehsor on pea |
brush anything to sustai1 fhenl; and |
=zsr IS: 80 z.