offered by seedsmen, as that of an edible vegetable, was by Gardener and Hipburn in 1818, and by Landreth in 1820. Buist's "Kitchen Gardener" says: "In 1828-9 it (the tomato) was almost detested and commonly considered poisonous. Ten years later every variety of pill and panacea was 'extract of tomatoes,' and now (1847) almost as much ground is devoted to its culture as to the cabbage." In 1834 Professor Dunglison, of the University of Virginia, said: "The tomato may be looked upon as one of the most wholesome and valuable esculents of the garden."

Yet, though the fruit has always received similar commendation from medical men, there has been constant recurring superstition that it is unhealthy. Only a few years ago there was in general circulation a statement that an eminent physician had discovered that eating tomatoes tended to develop cancer. This has been definitely traced to the playful question, asked as a joke by Dr. Dio Lewis, "Didn't you know that eating bright red tomatoes caused cancer?" In more recent years an equally unfounded claim has been made that tomato seeds were responsible for many cases of appendicitis and that it was consequently dangerous to eat the fruit.

I give some quotations for tomatoes in Quincy Hall Market, Boston, with some for other vegetables, for comparison. The records show that during the week ending July 22, 1835, tomatoes were quoted at 50 cents per dozen, cabbage at 50 cents per dozen. For the week ending September 22, 1835, tomatoes were quoted at 25 cents per peck, lima beans, 12½ cents per quart shelled, with comment that tomatoes are in much demand and a far greater quantity has been sold than in previous years. During the week ending July 22, 1837, tomatoes were quoted at 25 and 50 cents per peck, and the note that they are of good size and were well ripened and came from gardens in the vicinity would indicate that they had at that time early maturing varieties and knew how to grow them. From about 1835 till the present time the cultivation and use of tomatoes have constantly increased both in this country and in Europe, so that now they are one of the most largely grown of our garden vegetables.

A suggestion as to the extent they are now grown in America is the fact that a single seed grower saved in 1903 over 20,000 pounds of tomato seed—an amount sufficient to furnish plants for from 80,000 to 320,000 acres, according to the care used in raising them, the larger quantity not requiring more care than the best growers commonly use. A careful estimate made by the American Grocer shows that in 1903 the packing of tomatoes by canners in the United States amounted to 246,775,426 three-pound cans. In addition to the canned tomato, between 200,000 and 250,000 barrels of catsup stock is put up annually, requiring the product of at least 20,000 acres.

It is probable that the area required to produce the fruit that is used fresh at least equals that devoted to the production for preserving, which give us from 400,000 to 500,000 acres devoted to this crop each year in America alone. The fruit is perhaps in more general use in America than elsewhere, but its cultivation and use have increased rapidly in other countries, particularly with the English speaking races. Large quantities are grown in Australia, and immense and constantly increasing quantities are grown under glass in England and adjacent islands, while The Gardeners' Chronicle states that in 1903 between 600,000 and 800,000 pounds of fresh fruit were imported into England from other countries.

CHAPTER III

General Characteristics of the Plant

In the native home of the tomato, in South America, the conditions of the soil, both as regards composition and mechanical condition, of the moisture both in soil and air, and those of temperature and sunlight, are throughout the growing season not only very favorable for rapid growth, but are uniformly and constantly so. 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.

I know of an instance where two adjoining fields belonging to A and B were set with tomatoes, using plants started in the same hotbed from the same lot of seed. The soil was of equal natural fertility and each field received about the same quantity of manure, though that given A's was all well decomposed and worked into the soil, while that given B's was fresh and raw and simply plowed in. A's field was put into the best possible tilth before setting the plants, and the management of the plants and their cultivation were such as to secure unchecked growth from the time they were pricked out into cold-frames and set in the field until the crop was matured. As long as the plants would permit, the soil was cultivated every few days and kept in a state of perfect tilth.

B's field when the plants were set out was a mass of clods, as it had been plowed, when wet, some time before and never harrowed but once. The plants had been crowded forward as rapidly as possible in the cold-frame, and when set in the field were much higher than A's, but so soft that they were badly checked in transplanting and a great many of them died and had to be reset. The field received but one or two cultivations during the entire season. The growth of the plants in B's field was irregular and uneven instead of steady and uniform as in A's, and though some of the fruits were quite as large, they were not as uniform as A's while the yield per acre was not more than half as much nor the fruit of as good general quality. B had difficulty in disposing of his crop and often had to sell below the market, while A had no trouble in disposing of his at the highest prices for the day. B's crop was a financial loss, while A's returned a most satisfactory profit.

The key to the most successful culture of the tomato is the securing, from the start to finish, of an unchecked uniform growth, though it need not necessarily be a rapid one. The failure to do this is, in my opinion, the principal reason for the comparatively small yield usually obtained, which is very much less than it would be with better cultural management. The tomato under conditions which I have repeatedly found it practicable to secure, not only in small plantings but in large fields, has proved capable of producing from 1,000 to 1,200 or even more bushels to the acre, and the possible yield per plant is enormous.

As early as 1818 the Royal Horticultural Society of London reports the obtaining of over 40 pounds of fruit of marketable character from a single vine. An acre of such plants would give a yield of over 1,800 bushels of fruit, and many similar yields, and even greater ones, have been recorded for single plants. The yield commonly obtained, even in favorable locations, and by men who have grown tomatoes all their lives, is more often less than 200 bushels to the acre than more. The way to secure a better yield is to study carefully the nature and requirements of the plants and the adaptation of our cultural practice to them.

Life habit of the plant.—The tomato could be described as a short-lived perennial, but its span of life is somewhat variable. Under favorable