ts grown under
glass result from a supply of food of the right proportions and in
solution, instead of incorporating it in a crude condition with the
soil.

=Cultivation.=--The tomato is grown in all parts of the United States
and under very different conditions, not only as to climate and soil but
as to the facilities for growing and handling the crop and the way in
which it is done. What would be ideal conditions of soil and the most
advantageous methods under some conditions would not be at all desirable
in others. In some cases the largest possible yield an acre, in others
fruit at the lowest cost a bushel, or at the earliest possible date, or
in a continuous supply and of the best quality, is the greatest
desideratum. It is impossible to give specific instructions which would
be applicable to all these varying conditions and requirements; so I
give general cultural directions for maximum crops with variations
suggested for special conditions and requirements, and then the reader
may follow those which seem best suited to his individual conditions.

CHAPTER V

Selection of Soil for Maximum Crop

Large yields of tomatoes have been, and can be, obtained from soils of
varying composition, from a gumbo prairie, a black marsh muck, or a
stiff, tenacious clay, to one of light drifting sand, provided other
conditions, such as drainage, tilth and fertility are favorable. 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.

Of the 10 largest yields of which I have personal knowledge and which
ran from 1,000 to 1,200 bushels of fruit (acceptable for canning and at
least two-thirds of it of prime market quality) an acre, four were grown
on soils classed as clay loam, two on heavy clay--one of which was so
heavy that clay for making brick was subsequently taken from the very
spot which yielded the most and best fruit--one on what had been a black
ash swamp, one on a sandy muck, two on a sandy loam and one o