FOR GARDENERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 292, 3 September 1908, Page 3

FOR GARDENERS.

THE BEST TOMATOES. Mr. Barrett, the nurseryman at the "Waerenga State Farm, suggests the following fine tomatoes as tho best selection ' for general purposes. They are givon,.in order of ripening:— Earliana. ». <. ~*• Clark's Favourite. Peach (Waorenga selected). . , . ; i Holmes's Supreme. : Selected Largo Red. Speaking of the Peach tomato, Mr. Barrett said it is a beautiful large round noncorrugated tomato, and liangs in /clusters right from top to bottom of the plant. It is one of the finest setters he knoW's. Its colour may not be of the very best, .but its quality is excellent. Clark's Favourite is also one of tho very best tomatoes to grow, and a prolific setter. For, growers in tho colder parts of New Zealand —and even in the wannoj parts also—earliness is a groat consideration. Very rarely in colder parts does a .tomato plant entirely finish its fruiting before the cold weather of autumn stops its growth. Earliness. of course, moans that a plant comes quietly into ripe fruit after planting, and as earliness! of planting is restricted , by the cold weather of spring one wants .the plants to grow fast and) ripen quickly when thoy are onco in the ground. Bearing this in mind, Mr. Barrett's list will be a useful help to selectors. It js best to grow the plants from seed at home Gardeners who purchase their plants from the town seedsmen have '.liMislly only two or three varieties to choose from, and oven if thoy get the required varieties the plants are more or less checked before they finally reach their permanent'place in the.garden. The seeds are best :sown in a shallow 'box, placed ,in -the sun, and as they grow thoy must- •be thinned out or transplanted to give -each plant ample room for sturdy growth. When the permanent planting comes they: «au be lifted from the 'box with plenty of .'soil- at the rootß, straight .- into, the ground, and there should ■be ■ practically no check. This, of course, has a . great 'deal to '.do ■ with earliness of the ..crop, and; consequent long duration of the v fruiting season. Tomato seeds may-be sown now, and the sowings repeated in other boxes a few weeks later. To get the plants well grown early in the season is ii task that involves a good amount :>f scheming. This can be clone by covering the plants every night. This is not such i tedious matter as might be supposed in a :ity garden where only a few dozen plants irould be set out. _ Oiled white calico makes m excellont substitute for a glass covering, xnd it is equally frost-proof. A flat cover, made of oiled calico nailed to n framo,-would suit for the seed box, but the box would liave to be made deep, so that there wouldbe room, for the plants to grow below the, cover, for the plants after they are set out, Small irames, made of wood from four, to six inches across and from six to eiglit inches liigit, with a calico top aiul 110 bottom, would mswor the purpose, & framo being dropped iver each plant at night and removed in ihe morning. Tomato culture is one of the interesting and. satisfactory b-anches of ill garden work. ;