Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1893 — Tomatoes as a Farm Crop. [ARTICLE]

Tomatoes as a Farm Crop.

The Ne'/ Jersey experiment station has i-scc.l u buttetiu in relation to the luniulo industry in that statet which contains the following statement: The number of canneries suppiled by this ett>•» is seventy-three, south of Middlesex, ana 15,000 acre 3 ‘.ire de voted to raisin g tomatoes. The average yield is eight to ten _tpns_ f-n acre, and the lowest selling price st the canneries is f<J,SO a ton, For the general taarkek-ut least 2,000 acres are occupied, the average yield six tons an acre, and the average selling price 25 cents a basket of thirty pounds. Th« »nuual value of the erop io the farmers of New Jersey is over a dollars. For money value of the staple crops of the state tomatoes, and below hay, corn and potatoes, and with wheat rank sbove oats, rye and buckwheat Experience indicates that barn manure and especially commercial fertilizers increase the yield at the expense of maturity, but the best effect with manure results from its application the previous autumn. Tomato growers for both canneries and tho general market are benefited by large yields, but not equally by early maturity, A ?ain of one week in ripening for the genera! market- is often the difference between a $1.25 and 25 cents a basket, while a week may make little difference to the canneries. A large part of tho tomatoes put up in extern eann.-.ries arc sold in the western states and territories. There is no good reason why the west should 4 sot raLe and preserve all tho tomaloes needed for home consumption. The soil here is much richer than th;it in the oast, and there is an abuniance of stable manure. In the east the crop Is raised by the use of com-

tnoreial Jkvtil'izcrs. which are very mostly, oy raising and canning them where they will bo consumed the cost of transportation would be saved. A long growing season and quite a high temperature are required to render the crop profitable. These conditions arc found in most parts of the west south of tho fortieth degree of latitude. Missouri and Kansas are ex-OM-dingly well adapted to tho producof tomatoes, as are portions of Indiana Illinois and lowa. It is as cr.«y »o obtain capital to start a tomato cannery as it is to erect a creamery or cheese factory.