Whenever possible the tomato should be planted on rather rich loamy soil of medium texture and well exposed to the sun. Good drainage is essential. It is generally considered best to apply stable manure to previous crops, because the applications made during the cur rent year are thought to impair the flavor of the fruits as well as to induce a rampant growth of vine at the expense of productivity. In the field the plants are usually set four to five feet apart each way, and when grown ex tensively each sixth or eighth plant in the row is omitted and each 15th or 20th row is skipped, so as to facilitate han-esting with least injury to the vines, wagons being driven across the field to distribute the empty crates and collect the full ones. Until the vines spread and thus prevent tillage, cultivation is given weekly to keep the surface lose and free from weeds. Often a top dressing of some readily soluble fertilizer is given after the plants have been in the field about a month.
For home use and for fancy markets to matoes are often trained in many ways, es pecially to stakes, upon slat frames and trel lises. For such the plants are subjected to more or less pruning and tying, which usually vary with individual growers. But. the single stem is usually conceded to be the best method of growing such plants. The advantages se cured by training are early ripening and better colored, larger sized and superior flavored fruits.
Since the vines are tender to frost the to mato is usually cut short before mid-autumn. There are, however, at that time many fruits approximately mature, besides large quantities less advanced. The former may be gathered and ripened in warm rooms or sunny windows, and by storing in cool places from which they can be removed to warmth as needed the sea son may be extended several weeks after the vines have been destroyed. The greener fruits are widely used for making sweet pickles, chowder and ((India relish.° In greenhouses the tomato is one of the most popular vegetable crops. Though it is often grown in special houses or as the leading crop it is probably more frequently employed as a successor to carnations and some other green house plants, which either commence to fail in the early spring months or have a smaller sale when brought into competition with spring flowers. The fruits are sought about Easter time and from then until the out-door plants commence to bear the greenhouses may often be very profitably employed. Hand pollination is generally considered essential to the• setting of the fruit and the labor this involves is often a drawback on account of its expense. The plants are raised usually from seeds, sometimes from cuttings, or the rooted tips of plants which previously occupied the benches. They are planted in soil similar to that in favorable fields, either in solid beds, on shallow benches, or in boxes or pots, the second being pre ferred. The plants are usually trained to • a
single stem supported either by a stout cord suspended from the sashbars, or upon a trellis, the former preferred. Two feet apart is the favorite distance; five feet the preferred height; a minimum temperature of 60° is the lowest night temperature; 65° being pre ferred by most growers. Abundant light and air must be given at all times, but water must be carefully controlled, especially in cloudy weather, because the plants are apt to grow too rapidly to foliage if water is in excessive sup ply. During the winter months an average crop of three pounds of fruit to each plant trained to a single stem is considered fairly good. In the spring months four pounds is perhaps be low the average. Unless 30 cents a pound can be realized during the winter the crop is rarely paying, and many growers set the profitable figure at 40 cents a pound. In the spring a somewhat lower price with a rather higher average production makes the crop profitable.
The more progressive tomato growers are alive to the fact that the so-called plant dis eases which have been reported injurious to the tomato are more readily prevented by intel ligent management of the plants than by the use of so-called remedies. Every effort is, there fore, made to keep the conditions in the seed bed as well as in the field as favorable as pos sible. Adequate ventilation, rather low tem perature and limited water supply are found conducive to the health of the seedlings. And sturdiness at the time of setting in the field is a safeguard against subsequent troubles. Grow ers whose methods produce inferior plants, or who are negligent in various other respects, often suffer serious losses; and perhaps the majority still have recourse to fungicides, none of which have been found fully satisfactory and in some instances have failed completely from the first trial.
Many insects feed upon the tomato, but very few are usually numerous enough to do serious damage. The best known are probably the boll-worm (Heliothis artnigera), the to bacco-worm (Phlegethontius carolinus) and various species of cutworms. Flea-beetles, potato-beetles and thrips are also well-known enemies. As a rule, however, they are not responsible for serious damage. The larger species are generally picked off by hand and the smaller are driven away to other plants by the use of repellents such as tobacco dust, Bordeaux mixture, etc. See FUNGICIDES; IN SECTICIDE.
Consult Bailey, Cyclopedia of Horticulture) (New York 1916); and numer ous bulletins of the agricultural experiment sta tions and of the United States Department of Agriculture.