, 1878-03-01
Tomatoes.
ny A. Il. BLUNT.

Success in raising tomatoes, TO make.
them profitable or to produce the smooth.
est aud largest specimens, depends, 1st
on the selection of seed 2i, on Il knowl.
edge Of the demands Of the plant, its
habits and wants; and 81, on the soil.
plant-fOod and cultivation, necessary 10
perfect the fruit. My method of select
lug seed may not be novel, but it is the
best and safest way to insure genuine and
reliable plants.
| select the largest, smoohest and
heaviest that ripen earliest from the vine,
when ready to drop off; lay them on
smooth boards in the sun, until fermen.
tation sets in, then wash them clean from
the pulp. The seeds that sink may he
considered perfected, and can be relied
on for producing fruit like the specimens.
saved. always trim the end vines down
to but one tomato in each cluster of flow.
crs, cutting off every sucker stem and
the top. In this way, the whole sub.
stance is thrown into about three toma-
toes on each vine. Two years ago, by this
method / raised on six vines twelve speci-
mems that weighed eighteen pounds, the
largest one reaching as high as thirty.six.
ounces.
Second, on a knowledge of the de-
mands of the plant, its habits and wants.
The plant requires, in its early stages,
rich pabulum, concentrated in we'll pull
verified and moist soil. 1t flourishes
best, in all seasons, by treating it to fiat.
culture. 1t insists on having the hottest
sun-even those rays reflected from the
whitest house-wall. Its peculiar habit
in climbing is to reach out for some
rest on which to bend its joints. 1t will
run forty feet, if properly trained.
Third, on the soil, p!ant-food and cult
vation. The best soil adapted to this
plant is rich, friable one, put in high
state of cultivation; a red-clay subsoil--
spaded eighteen inches deep, thoroughly
mixed with compost made up of ele-
men's that every garden and kitchen can
furnish, with droppings of the cow
stalls as u base-is best in this climate
for the tomato. After being thorough.
ly pulverized and smoothed, it should
not be stirred at all. Even the crust
formed when the ground is prepared,
should not be broken. If suffering at
any time for water, let it be watered un.
der ground.
In propagating and cutvating, use
the hot bed and cold frame. SOW my
hot bed in January, and when the plants
throw out their third set of leaves,
transplant into the cold frame, putting
six inches apart each way. SO soon as
the frosts disappear, they are put out.
four feet apart each way, and staked with
three stakes to each vine, one short and
two six feet loug. take up my plants
with an apparatus of my own making.
1t first makes the hole wherein to put the
plant; it then takes up the plant with
all the dirt attached to the roots, and
places it in the beds without any water,
to keep it from willing. Tie plant
grows on without having any knowledge
of its removal To the short stake tie
the vine first; and after the cluster of
flowers appears in the first fork, tie the
two stems projecting from it to the two
tall stakes. | now trim OFT every stem
above the leaf to the first bloom, and top
the plant above the second and third
clusters. Every irregular and Informed
tomato is trimmed off, and thus the sub
stance goes into the best.
For seed, | leave but one tomato to
the cluster on the vine. Iu thus treating
the tomato have, year after year, taken
over fifteen pounds Of nice, smooth Tro'
phys from each vine, and am sure as
much more could be done by giving the
vine another season after the first crop.
White Cliff Agricultural Station.