The Portland daily press., 1880-05-26
AGRICULTURAL.
Tomatoes.

This crop has become of SO much impor-
lance that its cultivation may be said to be
carried on for two distinct purposes; for
market and for canning. The requisite
qualities in the tomato are earliness, smooth
ness, solid flesh, good size, small seed cells,
few seeds, absence of green core, and good
color and flavor. Unfortunately the variety
having the most solid fesh-the Trophy
has the fault of remaining green around the
stem; and some of the early varieties have
not the requisite degree of solidity. A lead
ing firm recommends the following varieties
as specially adapted for canning: Acme,
Arlington, Hathaways Excelsior, General
Grant, Paragon and Queen. A defect in the
canned tomatoes of the trade is that they
are too watery, and are doubtless more so
than they would be if more attention were
paid to the selection of solid fruit. For
family nse we prefer the following: Hatha-
ways Excelsior, Acme, New-York Market,
General Grant and Trophy The three first
named are good varieties for early crops.
There are not many days difference in the
ripening periods of the different kinds, and
it is best to plant a greater proportion of the
kinds having the most solid flesh. We would
plant largely of Trophy and Acme. The
Trophy, notwithstanding its tendency to re-
main green around the stem cannot be eX-
celed for family use.
Much depends on the care given tomato
plants while in the hot bed or greenhouse,
in order to have them do well when set in
the open ground. If the plants are set too
thickly, they will be likely to spindle, and if
too much water be applied the plants will
grow too rapidly and be ''soft," in which
condition they will not stand the wind
when planted in open ground.
Before setting the plants should be hard
ened by gradually exposing them to a cooler
atmosphere. Sometimes it happens that the
plants become too long, slender and crooked.
In such cases the stalk should be laid in a
small trench or furrow, and bent upward at
the proper point, the bent portion being
covered with earth. This is much better
way than setting the plants deeply. Toma-
to plants are sometimes grown in pots, by
which method the finest plants are produced.
For an early crop of tomatoes. light soil
and Southern exposure are preferred. On
such land the plants are set three feet apart
each way; but for heavy soil, four feet is
recommended. In garden culture we would
prefer to have the plants trained to trellises.
This keeps the fruit clean and enables the
grower to produce better specimens. When
fine show fruit is desired pinching in of the
shoots is practiced The soil for plants
trained to trellises should be well enriched,
so as to produce large fruit and an album
dance of foliage. Tomatoes will do moder-
ately well on comparatively poor soil; but
where it is desired to obtain large yield
and have the plant continue in bearing
throughout the season, the soil should be
rich and well cultivated. Being plant of
tropical nature tomatoes cannot be set out
very early. In this latitude we would not
recommend planting before May 18th, and
even then provision should be made for COW
ering,ea frost may be expected after that
s~1xk L.
ering with newspapers, or if no better means
are at hand, and the plants are not too large,
they may be very lightly covered with soil.-
Examiner.