VOL. LXII
INDIANAPOLIS, MARCH 23, 1907.
NO. 12
A Tomato Orchard.
If you could keep the frost away from
a tomato vine for a couple of years it
would get to be a fair sized tree. This
occurs sometimes in Florida— ia years
when the frost king leaves that state
alone. By the same sign, you can plant
tomatoes in the winter in Florida and
have them grow all the spring and summer and fall, and under the right conditions they become very large. The midrib of the leaf of such a tomato plant will
grow to be 18 inches long, a veritable
tree limb. As a result of having seven
acres of winter tomatoes frozen out during the "Great Freeze" in Florida, the
writer learned something about how they
stake tomatoes in Mississippi. I tried
three-quarters of an acre of it in Florida
and the rows of tomato plants, hanging
full, looked more like a dwarf fruit orchard than a truck patch. It takes lots
of work though, and time, to stake and
prune tomatoes; but for a kitchen garden
supply, north or south, espeeially if
space is limited, the method is ideal. Six
feet is the height to which the tomatoes
should be trained, and pruned to a single
stem. They can be made to grow ten
or fifteen feet as well, but this is an inconvenient height.
By the time the plant forms its first
blossoms, have a slim stake seven feet iu
length and with a crowbar, or a heavy
mallet stake your tomato firmly. Take
an ordinary piece of grocer's soft cotton
twine and tie the stem close to the stake.
I have experimented with tape and heawy
cord, but find that the ordinary, five-
cent a ball, white twine suffices and
that there is no danger of injuring the
stem of the plant. Then go through the
rows and pull off every sucker*—leaving
of course the blossom stems. In other
words simply train the tomato vine to •■»
single stem, and as need be tie it up
close to the stake. During the -
of growth three or four ties will do. I
tried using a sharp knife to cnt off-the
suckers, in the belief that yanking them
off by the fingers would injure the main
stem, but eventually came back to the
Mississippi method, where everything is
drill- by the fingers.
There will be strong temptation, should
the viues get three, four or five days start,
and one of the suckers or branches becomes almost as big as the main stem, to
let it grow, in the belief that it will injure the vine to remove it, but such mis
takes should be ruthlessly remedied. Once
well started the tomato is one of the
toughest and sturdiest growing vegetables—a horse can step on one without
mnch damaging it—and' there need be no
fear about tearing out even the large
suckers which have developed four or five
leaves, and even incipient blossom clusters. However, it is of course better
to keep the vines pruned do\yn closer.
The result will be that the viae will
grow up to the top of the stalk, stocky
and strong. The single leaves will develop hugely, and a great amount of moisture and sustenance which the roots collect, instead of producing ten or twelve
pounds of useless growth will go largely
into the formation of fruit. Clusters of
tomatoes will hang thickly against the
stake; they will secure the full benefit of
the sun's genial warmth: there will be no
rotting; the ripe fruit can be seen at a
glance; the tomateoes will be larger, and
there will be few, if any, very small
ones; the yield per vine will be ns heavy
or heavier, while if the planting is made
with  this  in  view,  the vines can  be set
considerably close**, as the moisture requirement will be far less than under the
usual method where a great amount of
leaf is produced.
If the ground is rich and the plant
grows luxuriantly, its entire Strength can
be thrown into the fruit by pinching out
the top bud after the vine has reached
the  height of  the  stake.
Another advantage of this method of
culture is that for a couple of weeks after
the ordinary tomato crop, even if tied up
in the usual method, is "laid by," the gardener with a wheel hoe can pass through
the rows of stalked tomatoes, and with
his hoe set very shallow, can keep down
any weeds which may rob the plants of
their  full  share  of  moisture.
Rows of tomatoes,  grown in  this man-
seem that it ought to be remedied by the
application of phosphate* and potash, lt
lias been stated by some European experimenters thai common salt used as a fertilizer in small quantities has a marked
effect in strengthening the straw of the
cereals. It   might   be   worth  while  for
farmers In sections where oats lodge badly to experiment a little, both with salt
and with the moderate use of phosphates
and  potash.
"In most parts of New England, oats
has been dropped oat of the rotation, and
timothy and clover are sowu in corn at
the last cultivation. This practice is
well established in parts of Vermont,
New Hampshire and Maine, and is en
tii-eiy satisfactory. It is, of course,
 essary   to  cultivate  the  corn  in  such
Home of B. F.  Karns.  Washington County.
ner, present one of the most attractive
sights imaginable. Bather than a tomato patch they look like a young orchard,
laden with a plethora of ripening or green
fruit.
Oats Growing in bad Shape.
Editors Indiana   Farmer:
It is the general experience among
growers Of oats that the crop has been deteriorating for several years, and ex
tended experiments have not helped matters much. The worst trouble to contend with is the tendency to lodge. Tho
straw becomes weak and does not have
the strength to carry a well-filled head.
The whole calamity has been brought
about by sowing degenerate seed until
there is no stamina left in the stalk.
Matty claim that old soils, (where oats has
been grown for many years) have become
exhausted of the essentials for forming a
stiff straw. Oats we must have, and
it is worth the attention of our experiment
stations to give us the benefit of more
work along this line. Mr. W. J. Spillman, in speaking of the unsatisfactory
condition of oat growing, says:
•'The chief fault found with oats is
the tendency of this crop to lodge. When
it does fall, the clover is killed and the
yield of oats is small. Some farmers
think that oats lodge worse than they did
15 or 80 years ago. Whether this is
actually the cause we have not yet been
able to determine. It has beeit sc.
ed that the continual growing of clover
has enriched the land with nitrogen to a
point where it is out of balance for oats,
tho corn does better than formerly on
this land. If the trouble is really due
to the accumulation of nitrogen- it would
mamier as to leave the ground perfectly
level. The  corn   stubble  is  harvested
with the first cutting of ha.v the next year,
but as the hay is led on the place the
Stubble does no particular injury and is
thrown out of the mangers for bedding.
We have found a few farmers in Missouri
and Iowa who seed clover ii} corn at
the   last   cultivation   successfully. One
farmer in Northwestern Iowa seeds several thousand acres in this manner every
year. Whether the practice would be
generally as satisfactory as the practice
of sowing clover with oats in spring, remains yet to be determined. It is certainly worth while for farmers who find
oats unsutisi'a, tory to experiment on a
small scale with this method of starting
clover." L. C. Brown.
Illinois.
Notes From Greene County.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I was agreeably surprised on my return
from a winter spent iu Chicago to find
that the folks had subscribed for the Indiana Farmer (we used to have it at home
when I was a boy) I read it over very
carefully, and was much pleased with
many contributors, but more especially
the continued story of the alfalfa farm in
Ohio. I haven't noticed anything from
Greene county, and for the same or a
similar reason as that ascribed by the
Koran for the coming of Mahomat, I
will say a word for Greene county.
Greene county, Indiana, offers many inducements for investment. The western
portion is the very cream of the coal
fields. Jinny farmers have received
more money for the coal lying beneath
this laud than they asked for the land in
fee simple a year sc so ago.        There are
many square    miles of    drained    marslf
land,    which have in my own recollection
—yes in    my boy's    recollection—risen in
value from 12% cents per acre, Government   price   for  condemned   swamp   land
to more than $100 per acre,    for the very
best corn and grain land.      But the thing
which looks to me would interest the man
burdened with  high rents, the small fruit
grower,    the poultry    raiser,    the    sheep
farmer  and   hundreds  of   people  desirous
of owning a  home  of  their  own,  is  the
remarkably low prices at which land may
be secured in the eastern portion of this
county,    or as the saying is "over in the
hills."        This the    western part of    the
county   is   intersected   with  several  good
gravel   and   stone   roads,   over   which   a
bicycle may be ridden to the county seat
from any part of the county.       The land
is    well     watered    with    never    failing
springs; scarcely a 40 acre patch without
from one to three or four; some are magnificent  rock  springs    where the    living
waters pour out from the face of a rocky
cliff,    making a  sight  well  worth a  ten
mile  drive  to  see  on  a  hot  day.        Of
these I might mention the Sexton Spring,
on the road north of Owensburg,   a veritable    summer resort and    picnic ground.
The spring on the Philip Crabb farm; the
spring on  Jackson's  farm,   north  of Robinson, and the one known as Rock springs
on  the  Bloomfield  and  Owensburg    turn
pike.      Either one of these four springs
woul.l  be  worth  ten thousand  dollars in
a  Chicago  pork. Then- there are hun
dreds of mineral springs, with perhaps all
the virtues and none of the vices of
French Lick. This part of the county
is   a   frnit  grower's  paradise. Grapes
grow wild in the woods nearly as good as
Concords, aud cultivated, that is set out
grapes, climbing where they will, over
fences, tree or a»bor, as the case may be
never fail. Apples are so cheap that a
large per cent of the crop, hang on the
trees until the freeze gets them. Peaches
are nearly sure when planted on a hill,
and I cut down an old tree when I came
here that measured 15 inches across the
stump one way, and 18 inches the other,
and the stump is there yet. Poultry
farms can be selected to order, with
southern slope, wooded, rolling land, etc.,
etc. On our own place we are (in the
summer when the roads are good) 30 miu-
utes drive to the county seat, where we
have three railroads and are thus in trfuch
with Chicago, Indianapolis and many
smaller  market  towns. Linton  in  the
heart of the coal fields and Bedford the
center of the stone quarries pay top prices
for farm produce. Evidences of mineral
wealth, yet undiscovered, are numerous
and convincing coal crops out on nearly
every section. Iron ore is plenty in
places; Koalin and fire clay are abundant,
and yet land is cheaper in Greene county,
Ind., all things considered than in Texas,
Arkansas, Oklahoma, Dakota or any
place in the United States Where I have
been. People are healthy and as a rule
contented. I haven't anything to sell
but would gladly see people who want
homes, fruit farms, poultry ranges and
sheep pastures coming this way to investigate. Lands under fence with rough
buildings, near good roads, etc., can be
bought for from $10 per acre up.
Greene Co. L. H. Hand.
Astronomers  are trying to  photograph
the sun's corona without an eclipse, from
the  Janssen  observatory  on  the  summit
j of Mont Blanc.