W. W. Tracy

“ For the home garden.—Here we seldom have a choice, but no one need despair and abandon effort, no matter what the soil may be, for it is quite possible to raise an abundant home supply on any soil and that, too, without inordinate cost and labor. Some of the most prolific plants and the finest fruits I have ever seen were grown in a village lot which five years before had been filled in to a depth of 3 to 10 feet with clay, coal ashes and refuse from a brick and coal yard. ”

“ Under such conditions there has been developed a plant which, while vigorous, tenacious of life, capable of rapid growth and enormously productive, is not at all hardy in the sense of ability to endure untoward conditions either in the character of soil, of water supply, or of temperature. A check in the development because of any unfavorable condition is never fully recovered from, but will inevitably affect the total quantity and quality of the fruit produced, even if subsequent favorable conditions result in the rapid and vigorous growth of the plant. ”

“ The Connecticut experiment station and others have secured good results from plants grown under glass in a soil of sifted coal ashes and muck, or even from coal ashes alone, the requisite plant food being supplied in solution. But a maximum crop could never, and a full one very seldom, be produced on a soil, no matter what its composition, which could not be, or was not put into and kept in a good state of tilth, or on one which was poorly drained, sodden or sour, or which was so leachy that it was impossible to retain a fair supply of moisture and of plant food. ”

“ While excess of water in the soil is most injurious to the young and growing plant, an abundance of it at the time the fruit swells and ripens is very essential, and a want of it at that time results in small and imperfect fruit of poor flavor. Excessive moisture in the air is just as injurious as at the root. In my personal experience I have known of more failures in tomato crops, at least in the northern states, to come from a season of persistent rains and damp atmosphere at the time when the plants should be in bloom and setting fruit than from any other climatic cause. ”

“ We have in cultivation varieties which are known to have originated in gardens and from the same parentage, but which differ [Pg 4] from each other so much in habit of growth, character of leaf and fruit and other respects, that if they had been found growing wild they would unhesitatingly be pronounced different species, and botanists are not agreed as to how our many and very different garden varieties should be classified botanically. Some contend that all of our cultivated sorts are varieties of but two distinct species, while others think they have originated from several. ”

“ On heavy, moist, rich land, where staking and pruning are essential to the production of fruit of the best quality, it is of importance that we use sorts whose habits of growth fit them for it; while on warm, sandy, well-drained land, staking and pruning may be of little value, and a different habit of growth more desirable. We have sorts in which the vine is relatively strong growing with few branches, upright, with long nodes and small fruit clusters well scattered over the vine. ”

“ A large proportion of the tomatoes grown for canning are planted under contract, by which the farmer agrees to deliver the entire yield of fruit fit for canning, which may be produced on a given area, at the contract price per bushel or ton. The canner is to judge what fruit is fit for canning and this often results in great dissatisfaction. To the grower it seems in many cases as though the quantity of acceptable fruit paid for was determined quite as much by the abundance or scarcity of the general crop as by the weight hauled to the factory. ”

“ One can hardly overstate the importance to the healthy growth of the young tomato plant of abundant sunshine, a uniform day temperature of from 60 to 80° F., or of the ill effects of a variable temperature, particularly if it be the result of cold, dry winds, or of a wet, soggy soil, the effect of over-watering. These points should be kept in mind in caring for the plants, and every effort made to secure, as far as possible, the first named conditions and to avoid the latter. ”

“ Tomato plants, however, when young, are of rather weak and tender growth, and need more careful culture than can be readily given in the open field; and, again, the demand of the market, even at the canning factories, is for delivery of the crop earlier than it can be produced by sowing the seed in the field.
For these reasons it is almost the universal custom of successful growers to use plants started under glass or in seed-beds where conditions of heat and moisture can be somewhat under control. ”

“ The wise selection of time for setting is an important factor in securing a good and profitable crop.
The South Jersey growers, to whom early ripening fruit is the great desideratum and who have a very warm soil, and grow plants so they are quite hardy and can be transplanted with little check, set them in the field very early, some seasons by the last of April; and if the plants can be got out so as to have two or three days of favorable weather to get established before it comes, they seem to be little hurt even by a quite severe frost. ”

“ Location.—While exposure is in some cases an important factor in determining the total yield an acre, and so the cost, the location of the field as regards distance from marketing point and the character of the roads between them is of far greater importance in determining the cost and profit of crop, but one [Pg 39] which is very often disregarded. The marketable product of an acre of tomatoes weighs from 3 to 30 tons, which is not only more than that of most farm crops, but the product is of such character that its value is easily destroyed by long hauls over ordinary roads. ”

“ In setting the plants it should always be borne in mind that while sunshine on the leaves of a plant rarely does any injury, it is very injurious to the roots, and the exposure of the roots to the sun or to cold, dry wind, should be avoided in every practicable way, such as by carrying the plants to the field laid on the sides of a box, which is then carried with its bottom toward the sun so as to have the plants in the shade, always handling the plant in the shade of one's body, etc. ”

“ When young they are capable of transmitting water and nutritive material very rapidly, but they soon become clogged and inefficient to such an extent as to result in the starvation and death of the plant. If the branches of such an exhausted plant be bent over and covered with earth they will frequently start new roots and produce a fresh crop of fruit, or if plants which have made a crop in the greenhouse be transplanted to the garden and cut back, a new set of roots will often develop and the plant will produce a second crop of fruit which, in amount, often equals or exceeds the first one. ”

“ Under modern horticultural practice when anyone has been able to secure seed most of which he is reasonably sure will develop into plants of a distinct type different from that of any sort known to him, he has a distinct variety, so that it is not surprising that we should find that American seedsmen offer tomato seed under more than 300 different names, and those of Europe under more than 200 additional, so that we have more than 500 varietal names, each claiming to stand for a distinct sort. ”

“ Quite often the seed of one plant will produce plants precisely like it, while that of another, equal or superior, will produce plants of which no two are alike and none like that which produced the seed, so that often the mixing of seed from different plants of the same general type, and seemingly of equal quality, prevents the establishment of a uniform type. ”

“ For early-ripening fruit.—Sometimes the profit and satisfaction from a tomato crop depend more largely upon the earliness of ripening than upon the amount of yield or cost of growing. In such cases a warm, sandy loam, or even a distinctly sandy soil, is to be preferred, as this is apt to be warmer and the fruit will be matured much earlier on it than on a heavier soil. It is essential, however, that it be well drained and warm. Often lands classed as sandy are really colder than some of those classed as clay, and such soils should be carefully avoided if early maturity is important. ”

“ Gathering.—As is the case with most horticultural products, the best methods of gathering, handling and marketing the fruit vary greatly with the conditions under which the fruit was grown and how it is to be used, and it requires the best of judgment to gather it in the stage of maturity in which it will give the best satisfaction, under the conditions and for the purposes for which it is to be used. It is impossible to give exact rules for determining when the fruit is in the best condition. ”

“ If called upon to name the exact quantity and kind of manure for tomatoes, without any knowledge of the soil or its previous condition, I would say 8 to 10 tons of good stable manure worked into the soil as late as possible in the fall or during the winter and early spring and 300 to 600 pounds of commercial fertilizer, of such composition as to furnish 2 per cent. nitrogen, 6 per cent. phosphoric acid and 8 per cent. potash scattered and worked into the row about the time that the plants are set. The use of a large proportion of nitrogen tends to rank growth of vine and soft, watery fruit. ”

“ When the great desideratum is the largest possible yield of salable fruit at the least expenditure of labor, the qualities of the vine may be the most important ones to be considered, while in private gardens and for a critical home market and where closer attention and better cultivation can be given, they may be of far less importance than qualities of fruit. ”

“ The health of tomato plants is to a large extent dependent on the conditions under which they are being grown. The character and physical condition of the soil, the supply of water and plant food, the temperature and amount of sunlight, are all factors of the greatest importance in the growth and development of the crop. ”

“ Immediate proximity to large bodies of water is sometimes advantageous in the South, but in the North it is often disadvantageous for early fruit because of the chilling of the air and the increased danger of spring frosts, although affording protection from those of early fall. Here, too, proximity of field to shipping point and distance and transportation rate to market are very important factors affecting profit on the crop. ”

“ Staking and pruning used to be the almost universal practice in the South, but in many sections growers have abandoned it, claiming that they get as good or better results without it. In the North it is rarely used in field culture, though often used in private gardens and by some market gardeners, and both staking or tying up and pruning are essential to the profitable growing of tomatoes under glass. ”

“ He should know, as no one else can know, his own conditions and requirements, and should be able to form very exact ideas of just what he wants, and the doing so is, in my opinion, one of the most important requisites for satisfactory tomato growing. I also believe that it is as impossible for a man to answer offhand the question, "What is the best variety of tomato?" ”

“ Fruit picked in this stage of maturity may be wrapped in paper and shipped 1,000 or 2,000 miles and when unwrapped after two or ten days' journey will be found to have acquired a beautiful color, often even more brilliant than that of a companion fruit left on the vine. Enclosing the fruit while on the vine and about half grown in paper bags has been recommended, and it often results in deeper and more even coloring and prevents injury from cracking, but the fruit so ripened, while more beautiful, is not so well flavored as that ripened in the sun. ”

“ Sunlight.—Abundant and unobstructed sunlight is the most essential condition for the healthy growth of the tomato. It is a native of the sunny South and will not thrive except in full and abundant sunlight. I have never been able to grow good tomatoes in the shade even where it is only partial. The entire plant needs the sunlight. The blossoms often fail to set and the fruit is lacking in flavor because of shade, from excessive leaf growth, or other obstruction. ”