Evening star., 1946-05-05

Tomato Stems
From Research
Crossbreeding
Develops Long.
Sought Variety
BY Josephine HemphiII
U. S. pspor.m.n, ef Aa,;ev,,v,.

Tomatoes are one Of my favorite
vegetables. So when I Joined three
other Victory gardeners in the spring
Of 43, tomatoes were high on my
list. Our community plot was a
good-sized piece of land just out
side Washington, where the date
recommended for setting out to-
mato plants is after May TO-"
, Did we wait till after May 10?
Here are the facts:
May l. Very windy. Not a good
day to set out tomatoes but we're
in hurry. I set out six Marglobes,
said to be disease resistant" !"
Wrapped . postcard around each
plant to keep cutworms away, as
illustrated in insect bulletin. Ap-
piled handful Of complete fertilizer
in circles, according to directions In
garden bulletin. "You and your
bulletins!" say my friends. "Just
stick the plants in the ground.
They'll grow all right"
May 6. Had to pull up two to-
mato plants. Couldn't stand the
weather. Maybe the experts are
right when they say observe local
planting dates"
But the other plants survived and
fiourished (anyway they f1ourished
after May 10), and I set out many
more before the planting season
was over. Now skipping to an i'm
portant date in midsummer:
July 18. Stayed home today.
Fellow gardeners phoned to report
in great surprise that first ripe to-
matoes have appeared-on one OF
my plants set out May /. Must
be that circular technique of apply
ing fertilizer" says Mary B. Isn't
science wonderful"
Science Wins Applause.
Whether those first ripe tomatoes
were the result of proper care or
just plain luck. the fact remains
that science is indeed wonderful
when it comes to developing new
varieties of plants. For without
scientific research, we wouldn't have
the many fine Favored, high-yield-
ing, disease resistant varieties of to-
matoes.
Just a little over a hundred years
ago. most people in the United
States were scared to death of to-
matoes. Mere mention Of the word
was enough to bring on a poison
rash. Then somebody-evidently a
fellow with supernatural courage
actually tasted the fearsome fruit
found that nothing untoward hap
pened, and ever since then we've
been making up for lost time.
There wasn't anything like the
Marglobe 100 years ago. The only
tomatoes grown in this country be-
fore 1860 were from q few varieties
brought over mainly from England
and France
Then private growers in the
United States started experiment.
ing. Before long they had devel-
oped some fine new varieties with
fruits that were large, smooth and
deep red. Varieties that seemed to
have everything. in fact, except the
ability to stand willis and bnghts
tomato plants are heir to.
One Of the worst tomato diseases
is fusarium wilt, caused by a fungus
which may live in the soil for many
years. Plants attacked by the fun
gus turn yellow and wilt and may
eventually die.
Resistance Developed.
BY 1915. plant breeders in the
Department of Agriculture and at
several of the State experiment sta
tions were convinced the only way
to combat fusarium wilt and other
diseases was to develop resistant
varieties. Marglobe was one ot
these. Developed by the Depart
ment of Agriculture, it was intro
duced in 1925, just in time to save
the tomato industry of the South
east from being wiped out by wilt
and nailhead rust. After 81 years
Marglobe is still one of the leading