THE TOMATO.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2617, 27 September 1909, Page 7

THE TOMATO.

GOOD FERTILISERS

(By J. D. M. in the Sydney “Morning

Herald.”)

No plant more quickly and profitably responds to the- application of fertilisers, judicious. pruning, and training, and stirring the surface soil, sufficiently to admit the air, than the tomato oti soils fairly well supplied, either artificially or naturally, with potash phosphoric acid, a fertiliser rich in nitrogen, la leguminous crop legumes cow peas, or soy beans, previously ploughed under, at the time of setting out the plants, 801 b or 1001 b per acre, of) nitrate of soda should bo applied, a similar quantity three weeks later. On soils, poor in plant food, a heavier application of hoth the nitrate and mineral elements, is requisite. An. excellent fertiliser is composed of 501 b of phosphoric acid, 1001 b of potash, and 1001 b of nitrate of soda per acre. Harrowed into the soil, which renders the nitrogen, within immediate reach of the roots of the plants, the result of such an application is that a larger number of fruits reach maturity more quickly, which secures a higher price than later crops. For a second and later crop, the character of the crop, and season of its growth, are to be considered, as the plants are not set until the first summer month. The additional application of nitrogen, in immediately available •form, is not so important, as the object of the growth is not early maturity, but the largest yield of matured fruit; therefore it is more desirable to grow a species that yields a larger fruit. The fertilisers should therefore be such as will furnish an abundance of all the elements of plant food. As the tomato belongs to the potash-consuming class of plants, any fertilisation should be rich in that element. If weather conditions are favorable a leguminous crop may be sown on the soil intended for tomatoes, in August, which will provide nitrogen for the following seasons crop. That course has been successfully practised by several growers. The writer, who has grown the tomato almost every season for the last 50 years in different •parte of Australia, is of opinion that the most prolific crop he ever grew was one he planted in the old ash and rubbish heap he found in a long deserted aboriginals’ camp in •Central Queensland nearly 50 years ago, when the tomato was then better known as the “American Love Apple.” He is now fully convinced that the .phosphoric acid, lime, and potash supplied by the calcined and buried bones of the animals the aborigines used as food, and charcoal and ashes of the firewood, contributed to the large yield and excellence of the fruit.