The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1902-10-03
TOMATO GROWING.

Ine following article on tomato
growing will be read with a deal
OF interest by the people of this
section just at this time. Mr.. r.
Tom DeBerrY, a young truck
farmer living few miles east of
Humboldt, read a paper before
the horticulture convention recent
| ly held at Trenton. MI. DeBerry
has been very successful in the to-
mato business, being a practical
farmer, and we take pleasure in re-
producing the paper in full:
The preparation for growing to-
matoes is best begun the fall be-
fore. The first requirement for
growing the plant is good beds;
ones in which the plants can be
saved without damage during our
coolest weather. Well grown
plants are very essential, as it is
useless to try to grow good crop
of tomatoes with dwarfed or stunt
ed plants; they are too long in
producing fruit, and what they do
produce is usually of inferior quail
ity and not a great deal of that.
For my own use | prefer what
tomato growers call double beds,
running north and south and heat
ed by furnace at the south end,
having four fues extending full
length of the bed under the ground.
These beds are built with a ridge
pole through the center, and sash
or canvass placed end to end on
either side, exactly like the roof of
a house, During very cold wealth
er extra covering must be used to
protect the plants. Broomsedge
mats, made by weaving broom
sedge with tarred Irvine, is as sat
isfactory covering as can be used.
Glass sash are best and cheapest
in the long run. Plants grown
under glass are thriftier and bet,
ter developed than the same aged
plants grown under canvass, from
the fact that they get the sunlight
through the glass a great many
days when it is too cold to take
the canvass off the beds.
We get our dirt up in the fall
and throw it into the beds in sharp
topped piles and allow it to freeze
or take the weather as it comes
until few days before we expect
, to use it, then we cover and start
our fire. 1t usually takes about
one week to get it warm enough
to SOW seed in.
Any rich, loose, loamy dirt will
answer. | use scrapings from the
horse lot and woods dirt mixed in
about equal parts, Too much ma
nure produces sappy, tender plants
which break easily in handling.
They also wilt worse when trans
ferred to the field, and willing is
what you wish to avoid as much as
possible, as it is time lost after you
put them out in the field.
Having procured our dirt and
gotten the beds warm, we screen
the dirt through a wire sieve FNv-
ing one-half inch meshes, which
leaves it almost us fine as meal;
then we scatter it over the bed to
a depth of about four inches and
SOW the seed broadcast, or in drills,
as preferred. l always broadcast
mine, then rake lightly with a
garden rake and press down with
a wide plank, walking on the plank
to press sufficiently. If the plants
do we'll they will be up a good
stand in a week. When they have
made four to six leaves they are
ready for transplanting the first
time.
We prepare additional beds just
as for sowing seed, and transplant
3 by 4 inches apart. To get them
the proper distance we bore holes
through piece of 1x2 timber and
trim pegs and put them in, lacking
piece on the back the distance
you want your rows to be. After
standing three to four weeks they
are ready to transplant the last