I hardly need add to or change the
suggestions given above for tomatoes at least cost, for any cultivation
wisely given will probably do as much to reduce cost per bushel by
increasing the yield per acre as any other expenditure. _In the garden_
it is advisable that from the time the plants are set until the fruit
ripens, the surface soil about them be stirred every evening when it is
not actually wet.

=In the greenhouse.=--The surface of the soil should be kept open by
frequent stirring or, as is the practice of some successful growers, it
may be covered with a mulch of partially rotted manure. The plants
should be watered only as needed to prevent wilt, and special pains
taken to guard against too much moisture either in the soil or in the
air, particularly on dark days. The night temperature should be
uniformly about 60 deg. F. while in the day it should be 75 deg., and if it be
bright and sunny it may go to 90 deg. or even higher. Air should be given
freely whenever feasible to do so without too greatly reducing
temperature. A moderate degree of moisture should be maintained in the
air, care being taken that it does not become too moist, especially
during dark days. There is more danger from the air becoming too moist
than from its becoming too dry, though either extreme is injurious.

=Pollinating.=--The structure and relations of the parts of the tomato
flower are such that while perfect pollination is possible, and in
plants grown in the open air usually takes place without artificial
assistance, it is not so likely to occur when plants are grown under
glass, particularly in the winter months, and it is usually necessary to
secure it by artificial means. With vigorous, healthy plants and on
light, sunny days, it can be accomplished by jarring the plants near
midday. This generally throws enough pollen into the air so that an
abundance of it reaches each receptive stigma. With less vigorous plants
and on dark days it is necessary to hand pollinate the flowers. This is
done by gathering the pollen by means of jarring the plants, so that it
falls into a watch crystal or other receptacle secured at the end of a
wand, and then pressing the projecting pistils of other flowers into it
so that they may become covered with the pollen.

Some growers transfer the pollen with a camel's-hair-brush; others by
pulling off the corolla and adhering anthers and rubbing them over the
stigma of other flowers. Fruit rarely follows