Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-04-14
HOW TOMATOES ARE
GROWN IN PENNSYLVANIA.

AT sEMAUS, PENNSYLVANIA = SYbTE-
MATIc PRUNING ENORMOUS GROWTH
OF VINES VEGETABLE SURGERY
THE FRUIT ALL s0LD BY WEIGHT.
New Jersey had better look out for its
tomato producing laurels. Pennsylvania
is fast gaining reputation as one of the
leading growers Of mid-winter luxuries,
in the matter of tomatoes.
Emaus, a quiet Moravian village, did
not dream two years ago that it could pro-
dnce anything but sewer pipes, pig iron
and silk. One day, however, there came to
town young man who bought large tracts
of lands, and before the villagers realized
the fact he and his partner had built a
farm Of glass and given to the oldest
Moravian village in the Union another
paying industry.
Many have wondered, no doubt, why
this tomato farm was located in that
town and not in close proximity to one Of
the large cities The soil in Lehigh county
is. it appears, particularly adapted to to-
mato farming better than that OF any
other locality thus far tried
The average temperature for this tomato
farm under glass is 50 to 80 degrees
Fahrenheit by day, though at night it may
be permitted to fall 10 degrees. The win
ters are cold at Emaus, and the wind bitter
and fierce, and the owner must keep close
watch oyer his plants on winter nights, lest
they freeze. He uses three TO four tons of
coal per week. or about 125 tons during the
hothouse season.
The interior of the house is divided into
parallel beds, separated by narrow alleys.
10 one house the beds are on the platforms
three feet from The surface; in the other
they are on the ground, to obtain the more
direct rays of the sun Since they were
planted in August the vines have attained
height of nearly six feet, their maxium
in winter being about nine feet, and by
summer they have reached twenty-five feet.
Once week all the side shoots are taken
off, and only the centre top stems are left
growing, so as to obtain all the blossoms
and fruit at the top.
So erect are the stock plants and so full
the foliage that but for the fruit, which
hangs in large clusters, a visitor might
think himself in nursery Of trees and not
in tomato garden
When tomato bunch is ripe and The
tomatoes are plucked, all the stems are cut
off up to the next bunch, so that the vital
ity of the vine goes to the growing bunch.
This system is repeated every time bunch
is picked off, Each vine is loaded with
fruit OF al sizes, and each average a bunch
of four to eight large, solid tomatoes a
week.
A visitor, seeing rag tied around to-
mato stem, asked the proprietor what that
rag was doing there.
why, said he, that stem was broken
off and my assistant and set the fracture
Just as surgeon would set a fracture of a
bone Do you notice that nice, ripe to-
mato above the rag? That tomato was a
tiny green one when we set the fracture,
and now it is perfect fruit, ready to be
picked in the morning, aud that cluster
above was then nothing but flowers, which
proves that our surgery was successful 7
The hothouse contains more than 1000
vigorous tomato plants, so the yield is
large.
By the last week in October the winter
tomato grower makes his first shipments,
and since November 18th be has been able
to ship daily 100 to It's pounds, the bulk of
them to Philadelphia, though occasional
shipments go to Boston, New York and
Washington.
All these winter tomatoes are picked
early in the morning, when they are in
their prime, for later in the day, when the
temperature is higher, the fruit is soft and
more apt to spoil. Only the Lorillard
variety is grown under glass, for this
is the most successful forcing tomato, Of
medium size and more popular than large
sized ones. This precious winter fruit is
all sold by weight The best selling to-
matoessa are those that average three or four
to the pound. After the holidays, when
the California crop is exhausted, prices for
first grade Pennsy lyania tomatoes range as
thirty to forty cents pound.
The grower has 1900 young tomato plants
ready for any emergency, SO that if any Of
his older plants suddenly die he can re-
plant with the young ones, which will be
prolific by April and bear a continuous
crop till the outdoor fruit is plentifui
WANDERING WILLIE THE HOBO
Cares very little for the proverb s.Cleanliness
is next to Godiness.r He does not believe
mleh in either. The fassidons however who