The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-05-12
Girls Tomato Club,
Sumter County
MISS MARY LENNON, County Agent
Canning Club Members:

To Canning Club Members:
You have already received letters
SAB and SCI in which you were told
how to select and prepare your
tenth acre, how to make hot beds,
cold frames and seed boxes, how to
transplant, fertilize, and cultivate
your tomatoes. You may, at some
time during the season, have troubles
with tomato diseases. You must UNI
that you can much more
easily and cheaply take steps to keep
plants healthy than you can cure
them after they become diseased. In
fact, If the soil in which you plant
vegetables Is infected with some
of these diseases, you cannot hope to
have healthy plants. 1t is too late to
apply remedies after you see the
trouble. You have already been told
not to use soil for hot beds or cold
frames in which diseased tomatoes
grew last year.
Rules for Preventing Tomato Diseases
Please read and follow carefully.
l.. Rotation of crops-do not plant
tomatoes in the same soil oftener
once in three years. Find what
crop was on the land last year and
out for diseases Of other plants
which may also infect tomatoes. One
Of the most serious of these is root
knot which occurs in sandy soils. You
can tell 1t by the knots or gals on the
roots. These are caused by very tiny
worms called nematOdes. RoOt-knot
attacks cotton, cowpeas, melons, okra,
beets, tomatoes, potatoes, and other
plants. Soil can only be freed from
this pest by planting it for two or
three years in crops which are not at
lacked by the r%oOt-knot, such as Iron
cowpeas, corn, oats, velvet bean, and
peanuts. Be sure that you do not
plant your tomatoes where any crop
was infected with root-knot last year.
2. Avoid use of fresh If
you did not have we'll rotted manure
plowed under last fall, it will be best
not to use any. Using fresh manure
in the spring will probably cause dis
ease among your plants.
3. Spray healthy plants with Bor-
deaux mixture to protect from dis
ease.
4. Keep plants In good condition
by careful cultivation.
3. Pull up and burn all diseased
plants promptly.
Spraying Tomatoes.
To get the gest results, spraying
with Bordeaux Mixture should be be-
gun while the plants are Young. Spray
about five days before transplant :.
ing, then again five days after trans
planting and repeat every ten days
until h fruit is full grown. A hard
will frequently wash off the mix
ture and make it necessary to spray
again. Five sprayings should be Civ
during the season.. Ten gallons of
spray mixture will be necessary for
each spraying. Five pounds blue-stone
and five pounds Of fresh stone lime
will be enough for the season. Sc
cure these supplies at the beginning
the season. Have the blue-stone di-
vided into five one pound lots. The
entire quantity of lime may be slak-
at the beginning by adding water
slowly until all the Jumps are slak-
Keep this slaked lime in q bucket
with a little water over it. AS Ions
as 1t Is covered with water it is good,
but II 1T Is exposed to the air it will
dry out and become air slaked. Lime
has been air slaked cannot be
used in Bordeaux Mixture.
To make Bordeaux Mixture, for
each spraying:
Copper sulphate, (blue-stone), l lb.
Duck lime, l Id.
Water, 10 gallons.
Making Bluc-StOnc Solution.
Put 5 gallons of water in a wooden
Tie the blue-stone in a coarse
sack and hang it in this water near
the top. DO not use a metal vessel
because the action of the blue-stone
on the metal will ruin the vessel. AL
low several hours for the blue-stone
dissolve. This can be done more
quickly by using hot water.
Making Lime Solution.
Take one-fifth of the lime which has
been slaked by water and mix thor
oughly in . gallons Of water.
Mixing.
Bordeaux Mixture is made out of
equal parts Of these two solutions. It