The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-07-21
For Tomatoes.

ueIueT you plauL yOuE eeeo III ueoS
and afterward transplant to rows or sow
your seed in the drill and afterward thin
out, you should, in either case, have your
ground we'll manured, but deeply plowed
or spaded. Spading is better for small
bed. The tomato is not as voracious as
some other plants, but it will not do
much without liberal "feed." Any good
manure, such as stable, cow lot, fowl
house, or a compost of all these, will an
swer, or any commercial fertilizer will
doubtless do.
Having been literally spread upon the
surface before the ground is plowed or
spaded, it becomes we'll mixed with the
soil when it is being prepared for plant
ing. A very common error is made by
young and inexperienced farmers and
gardeners in supposing that manure will
do the most good if applied directly to
the roots of the plant. When this is done
it causes the plant to ''ire' or "burn"
when hot, dry weather sets in.
Hence the necessity of having your
manure thoroughly incorporated with the
soil before planting, because the soil
most soils at least-rcadily absorbs
moisture, and when the naturally dry
manure is we'll mixed with the soil it too
becomes moist, and is then available as
plant food.
A correspondent writes: 'I sow tomato
seed both in beds for trausplanting and
also in rows or drills. The reason l
SOW some in bed is to insure against a
bad stand in the drills. Another reason
Is that when the plants in the beds are
up four or five inches pick out tbe most
robust and plant in my select rows. I
have bed and select row for each vari-
ETY. plant; generally from three to four
kinds. The next largest and best plants
use in filling up any vacancies that may
occur in my drilled plants. Not many
vacancies occur, usually, unless the plants
are badly eaten by insects, and have
never yet been troubled to any great ex-
tent by them. In fact, the large green
tomato worm is the only enemy my plants
have ever had, and he has never been
numerous enough to do much damage.
"The select rows above mentioned are
those from which 1 pick my table toma-
toes. e., those for slicing and eating
raw. I also select. the very best speci-
mems from these rows for seed.
"Tomato seed, like all small seed,
should be covered very shallow and not
sown too thick. Transplanting should
be done, if possible, on the afternoon Of
a rainy day; the nearer the night tine
better. The plants should stand from
two and half to three feet apart, in
rows of that width. Like most other
vegetables they should be kept clear of
weeds and grass, and the ground should
be stirred frequently with hoe, garden
plow or small horse plow.
Some tomato amateurs trim their vines
down to only two or three limbs, thus
forcing the entire strength of the plant
into those limbs. This method gives few
tomatoes, but very large and luscious. I
trim my select plants little, but net to
the extent that have seen Others do. l
cut off from one-third to one.half the
limbs, perhaps, and do not let the plants
grow much over two feet high. This
plan gives me very large and fine fruit,
though not quite so large probably as
where very close pruning is followed.
Yet the greater number of tomatoes more
than compensate for the slight difference
in size"