Evening journal., 1921-01-22
Wins Prize FOR
TOMATO STORY
Harvey Wilkinson Awarded
SIS by Canned Goods
Exchange
L. E. DONOVAN GETS
SECOND PLACE
Special TO The Evening Journal.

w AAAO AANNniIH dOAA hhis
NEWARK. Jan. 22.-Harvey Willzin-
son, OF Delaware City. has won the
award OF s25 offered last spring by
the Baltimore Canned Goods Ex-
change, In cooperation with Delaware
College and the county farm bureaus,
10 the Tomato Club boy OF Delaware
VINO should write the best story OF
ms experiences in growing one quar-
ter acre or more OF tomatoes. Leon
II. Donovan, OF Brldgeville, ranked
second; Charlton Farber, OF Milford,
was third, and Dewey Sapp, Of Hous-
ton, stood fourth.
All told, there were forty-one boys
VINO carried out the tomato club
demonstration, twenty-four OF whom
completed their records and made re-
ports. or these twenty-four mem
Ders, the Tri-State Packers Associa-
ton, In cooperation with the county
farm bureaus, sent twelve community
champion growers TO the recent iun-
Tor short course at Delaware College
three from New Castle county, three
from Kent county and six from Sus-
sex county. The remaining members
who reported, and did not attend the
short course, received a boys and
girls club achievement pin in rec
'CtAhAth VI AtA'iA NUiiHlfAlik lIlt IUUs
Harvey's Tomato Club story, on
which he won a prize. follows:
After spending three years In club
work twar gardens and victory gar
densl, ] decided the past year TO try
tomato club work, and ! can truth
fully say that the past year was the
most successful In the early spring
l received a letter from Mr. Martin,
State club leader, asking me 10 take
up Tomato Club work, and plant a
quarter acre OF tomatoes. / consid-
cred this a good field for work and
Immediately replied In the Affirmative.
Il laid out my patch sixty feet by
one hundred and eighty-one and a half
feet and had IL plowed and narrowed
in preparation for planting. Mr.. Mar
tin brought 600 plants TO me one-after-
noon, and the next day / had the plot
! narrowed and rows run out. The
method | used in planting was this
! put a shOvelful OF manure and a
small handful OF phosphate in the
| hill, covered them with dirt, cut with
spade, and set in the plants. The
| plants were set in rows four feet
apart and spaced four feet In the row.
During the course OF the season.
had the plants cultivated three times
with a horse and cultivatOr, and
4
weeds and loosen the earth.
II picked my first tomatoes on An
gust IS. At that time my patch was
very beautiful. fourteen rows OF green
| plants with red tomatoes on them. |
| picked tomatoes, as many as | could
| sell, give away, or eat at home. from
| August tS until the last OF Septem-
Der. During this time. | picked so
baskets, while about 100 baskets rot
ted In the patch. as there was no
market for them. During the early
J part or October, the plants did not
bear to any great extent. but the last
OF October they began to bear again,
and | picked a few tomatoes along
until the middle Of November The
only explanation that I can give Is
that there are three sets OF blossoms
on tomato plants. The FIRST setting
bore, but the pollen was washed on
the second setting by heavy rains
and they did not bear. The third set
ting bore In the latter part OF OctO-
Der and the early part OF November.
i THE market conditions were very
bad this year. The market price in
this section was on the average about
20 cents per basket. but / sold part
Of my crop for 30 cents per basket.
| The local market being flooded. |
was forced to let about two thirds OF
my crop rot in the patch. In order to
oil out my report, / asked the local
farmers the number OF tons they
raised and computed my crop by that.
on this basis, estimated that my
plants (one-Quarter acre) yielded
about two and one-half tons. or $50
! baskets.
about the middle OF the season. I
received a letter from Mr. Martin ask
ing me 10 send an exhibit Of twelve
tomatoes 10 the State Fair. On the
Friday before the fair, I selected
twelve tomatoes from the patch and
shipped them 10 Mr. Martin at Els
mere. In the selection Of the t0ma-
toes I used the following method
I picked all the ripe tomatoes in the
patch, putting the extra good toma-
1 toes In a separate basket. When ]
bad finished picking tomatoes I found
that I had twenty-One excellent ones
l selected the twelve best from these
and sent them tO the fair. on Thurs
day l visited the fair and, very much
TO my surprise, | found a blue ribbon
on my tomatoes, which entitled me
10 FIRST prize in the State OF 50.
II was greatly pleased at winning
this prize, and. although my croT
was not a financial success, this honor
compensated me 10 a large degree fol
the labor spent in my first efforts al
raising tomatoes.