Evening star., 1925-04-21
Making Tomatoes Rosy.

Tomatoes being next on this list, al
ready cut down and revised, Mr.. Bur-
bank was asked again for cultural dt-
rections.
'"The same car. in the preparation
Of the soil, the sowing of the seeds and
the handling of the seedlings after
ward Is necessary as with other veg
etables, with the exception perhaps
that the tomato being very tender
plant. the seeds must be sown in
hot-bed or in a greenhouse, or in flats
in the house and planted in the open
when all danger of frost is over.
THE young plants are set out in
rows about A feet apart each way,
unless supported by racks or trellises,
whe nthey may be grown feet
apart. Tomatoes thrive best without
stalking or pruning unless space Is
too valuable, when they may be
trained to a fence"
Are there blights and bugs and
other disbursements for the garden
err" was the next question.
Yes, but some varieties fortunately
are almost or quite blight resistant,
and as for bugs, they seldom trouble
tomato plants. AS the first days of
frost approach, the green tomatoes
may be gathered and ripened on racks
in a sunny location or in cellar.
This is never necessary in warm eli
mates"
AS the amateur had heard Of the
practice of digging up the entire plant
in the Autumn and after wrapping the
roots in hurlap hanging it up in d
warm, sunny place, for future ripen-
ing. this bit of information was added
to that already gained.
The Burbank" tomato has the great
merit of being remarkably early and
ripens in most climates all it's fruit
before Fall frosts. Another quality
which endears it to the housewife is
that the skin peels freely from the
rich sweet pulp.
Mr.. Burbank here has word of
cautjgn:
form fruits when the plant is quite
small. and the first cluster of blooms
should be picked, giving the plants a
better start. All tomatoes should be
planted deep in the ground for a
heavy, continuous crop"
Growers in Canada, Alaska, New
England, as we'll as Australia, Africa,
Hawaii and even Porto Rico, all unite
in extolling the good qualities of the
Burbank tomato.
Like many another wiser man the
amateur gardener here asked how the
small Burbank preserving" tomato
came into existence.
1T came from a combination of the
common tree tomato and the currant
tomato, being a selection from this
cross. The result, as in SO many
other experiments, was something of
a surprise"
us the current tomato like the
other tomatoes, except in size?"
NO; plant has long, slender, trail
ing vines and small leaves with
clusters of fruit growing much
like currants. The crossing of this
type with the tree tomato produced
a great variety of plants. and after
selecting the best, the new type was
finally fixed
This new tomato grows about -
inches high with a spread of about
Is inches, with small, round, scarlet
tomatoes about three quarters OF all
inch in diameter, borne in clusters.
Mr.. Burbank said, in this connection:
"An experiments with tomatoes
are of special interest and most sat
isfactory as results are obtained so
quickly, the plants growing and ma
turing in single season. My own
experiments were begun before I
left my home in the East at the time
of the production of the Burbank po-
tato, and were continued in Call
fornia. An interesting development in
regard to the vitality of seeds might
be given.
II had brought with me from
Massachusetts seed of several va
rieties of plants as well as some of
the hybrids which had been produc-
ed. Among these were some toma-
to seeds which had been dried in
the usual manner and laid away
Nineteen years afterwards some of
this seed was planted and produced
strong. healthy plants which bore
fruit abundantly. On the next, or
twentieth, year only a few plants re-