The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1903-02-13

that produces peaches in the greatest
perfections is the best variety Of soil
for tomato crop, and l have been
guided somewhat in locating tomato
fields by my knowledge of the quality
of fruit grown heretofore.
Perhaps you are troubled with the
worm, and I will quote from my own
experience the best method to be adopt
ed to destroy them. In the first place,
a great deal of good can be done by
destroying the moth by finding out
the time when they deposit their egg
on the vines. If there are any Jimp-
son weeds adjoining the fields they
can always he found frequented by
these worms. They can be killed with
paddles or destroyed by poison. A
weak solution Of cobalt sprayed in the
blossoms of the Jimpson weed will de-
stroy great mary of them, and l
think fires built around the tomato
patch will also leip to destroy them.
The egg is deposited on the under side
of the tomato leaf, and if you will
watch the fly you will find it is erratic
and will visit almost the entire field in
the course of an evening. Their Ca
pacity for laying The egg is immense.
Perhaps several thousand will be laid
by one insect in the course Of a few
days. Of course, the old time remedy
"a flock of turkeys-is most excel.
lent one. For the saving of my
patches | had to resort to weak solu.
ton of Paris green to destroy them.
An ounce Of Paris green to fifty gal
Ions of water makes a sufficiently
strong solution, and this can be put on
by an ordinary sprayer either by hand
or on wheels.
In the cultivation of a large field of
tomatoes | have always left several
road-ways for convenient hauling
and handling of the fruit. | generally
have the fruit gathered in five-eighth
baskets, rejecting the imperfect ones.
but always pulling them off and throw
ing them on the ground. 1t is not a
good plan to pour the tomatoes from
basket to basket as it often bruises
and bursts them, and if they have to
stand day or more at the factory
they will become sour and soften, thus
giving an inferior grade of goods. A
tomato patch should be picked every
three days, and if owing to the weather
the tomatoes are ripening rapidly, it is
better to pick them very close, the last
picking preceding Sunday, so that the
crop may not become overripe before
the next picking. But if they are
picked very closely, more so than
usual, have the greener ones picked
and kept to themselves so that the fruit
will be of uniform ripeness when de-
livered to the Gamer. In hauling the
fruit to the market it is much preferred
that it should be hauled on spring
wagons, this prevents the jostling and
packing down of the fruit which more
or less Injuries it.
1t may be interesting in connection
with growing tomatoes to know that
it is a good crop to grow, not only be-
cause of its own value, but in conse.
quence of its residue in the shape ol
its vines, etc, being very beneficial to
the soil. The actual loss of the soil
from the growth of the tomato crop is
comparatively small, and in every case
the land will be better after growing
than it was before. By running a disc
harrow over the tomato vines in both
directions they can readily be torn to
pieces, and for wheat crop tomato
field is very advantageous. 1t is said
that in some localities where tomatoes
have been grown abundantly for some
years past the land has become tomato
sick, but here in this locality it is CON-
parativcly new crop, and l think it
is safe to say that in the near future
will be large and renumerative one.
Prof. Norton, Pathologist Of the
Agricultural College, said:
The tomato disease of this locality
include damping Of young plants,
Southern blight, several leaf spots ard
different kinds Of fruit rots, and failure
to set fruit due to wet pollen. Most OF
these are caused by germs Of fungi or
bacteria, which usually enter through
places where the stem Of the plant or
fruit has been broken iE handling, cul-
tivating or by insects. 1t is most i'm
portant to get the plants strong and
healthy and not let them get checked
in their growth.
Points to be observed in preventing
diseases are the following:
DO not use the same land over one