diseases of tomatoes, but they are highly infectious, being spread
by means of what is called a "virus," which passes the finest
filters. It is spread by insects, notably aphids, which carry plant
juice, and in the handling of plants, but it does not persist in
seeds or in litter. It is wintered on horse nettles and three
species of ground cherries. Control suggestions include roguing
affected plants, eliminating weeds, and controlling carrying
insects. The symptoms are widely various, the most common being
mottling of leaves, stunting and malformation of leaflets, which
sometimes become fine ribbons or threads, curling, appearance of
small brown dead areas, and spots and cracks on fruits.
_Damping off_ is caused by various fungi in the seed bed which
attack the stem near the surface of the soil and cause the plant to
drop over and die. Clean soil, heating of soil, commonly called
sterilization, and care in watering are all helpful. It is now
common practice to dust seed with formaldehyde dust, or with red
copper oxid or with an organic mercury disinfectant. If trouble is
serious, a watering with semesan just before seedlings emerge may be
helpful.
A government bulletin on "Market Diseases of Tomatoes"
(Miscellaneous Publication 121, 1932) is an excellent summary with
colored plates to help in recognizing the various troubles.
Insects
_The Fruit Worm_ (Chloridea obsoleta) is probably the worst of the
tomato insects, but is not prevalent in the North. It is the same as
the corn ear-worm or the cotton boll-worm, and bores into green or
ripening fruits. It winters in the soil and fall plowing is
recommended for its control. Planting corn as a trap crop is also
suggested. The Virginia Truck Experiment Station finds that the
addition of two pounds of calcium arsenate to 50 gallons of the
Bordeaux used for disease control helps materially.
_Cut-worms_ (various species of the family Noctuidae) cause severe
losses at the time of field setting. They winter in the soil and are
worse when sod has been plowed under, or following other host
plants. Poison bran mash is commonly used to combat them, using a
spoonful to each plant. Hand picking and the use of paper collars
are resorted to on a small scale. Well-hardened plants seem less
subject to injury by these pests than tender plants.
_Colorado Potato Beetle_ (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) can cause a
world of damage to young plants. Arsenical spray or dust will
ordinarily control them. The old-fashioned potato bug (family
Meloidae), is reported as troublesome in Missouri. When they appear
in droves, the only control is to drive them with brush. Arsenical
spray or dust is of some value.
_Flea Beetles_ (family Chrysomelidae) are the little black jumping
fellows that perforate leaves in plant beds and in the field. They
are also accused of injuring blossoms and reducing the set of fruit.
Their attacks upon young plants are sometimes ruinous. Bordeaux with
arsenical serves as a repellant. Dusting with nicotine sulphate dust
is also suggested.
_Green Tomato Worms_, or _Horn Worms_ (Phlegethontius sexta) are
big, green fellows and have a great capacity for tomato foliage.
Hand-picking and arsenical spray or dust are usual means of combat.
_The stalk-borer_ (Papaipema nitela) is a slender caterpillar which
is reported as serious in Indiana. No satisfactory control is
suggested except clean culture around fields and pinching the stems
to destroy the pest.
VIII
SKILLFUL SELLING CROWNS THE ENTERPRISE
The most skillful production is in vain if marketing is not done
well. At the same time, the quality of the goods is the principal
factor in making the price and in moving the goods. Even then, if
costs in production and marketing are too high, the enterprise is a
failure.
The differences between high and low quotations on the same market
the same day, are usually fairly wide,--say, $1.75 to $2.50; or
$0.75 to $1.25; or $0.20 to $0.25 per basket. These differences are
sufficient to make the difference between profit and loss. Small
differences in quality of the product, in handling and dress-up of
the market pack and skill in finding buyers may easily result in
price differences as great or greater than those indicated.
Harvesting
Picking in the field calls for the closest care and supervision to
prevent damage to the fruits and vines. Stems should be removed to
avoid punching other fruits, and long finger-nails do great harm by
cutting the skin and admitting infection. Containers should not be
too large to be handled conveniently. Round half-bushel stave
baskets and galvanized pails are excellent. Baskets made of
quarter-inch staves rather than veneer are smooth and durable, but
the investment is rather heavy unless dumping is resorted to. In
practice, all sorts of boxes and crates are used, often the package
that is used for marketing. No container as deep as a bushel basket
should be used.
The stage of ripeness at which tomatoes are picked depends upon the
time and distance to market. For home use or local market, fruit may
range from the first turn to almost fully colored.
A few growers pick at the turn and use ripening rooms to prepare for
local selling. In this way cracking, injury by soil, by insects, and
by uneven coloring are avoided. Fruits are wiped and handled with
less loss and may even be washed if need be.
Fully ripened fruit will not stand handling and hauling and will
quickly deteriorate, reaching the consumer in bad condition.
For cannery, full ripening is desired with even coloring.
MacGillivray[18] has shown that success in this is largely a matter
of care in picking. Cracking and slight softening are not serious
defects for this purpose, but molds and bacteria in broken places
are serious as they throw the product out of grade or occasion
rejection.
Picking Green
Most tomatoes for long distance shipment, are picked before color
appears,--at the mature-green stage. One of the great difficulties
is to judge this stage correctly; to train ordinary labor to pick by
maturity and not by size. Immature-green tomatoes ripen slowly and
do not achieve good appearance or table quality.
It is almost impossible to describe the ear marks of a mature-green
tomato. Most of those usually cited are of doubtful value--glossy
surface, whitish cast of color and the dark ring at the stem scar.
The jelly-like or mucilaginous material in the seed cells has
sufficiently developed in a mature green tomato so that the fruit
may be sliced without cutting seeds. Of course, the tomato is
ruined but the method can be used to check one's judgment based on
the exterior. Also, one can learn by laying aside tomatoes judged
mature-green and immature-green to ripen.
Some efforts have recently been made in Florida to pick tomatoes at
the turn, that is, at the first show of color, a practice suggested
by Sando[19] some years ago. This should provide fruits of uniform
degree of maturity, that would be about ready to sell on arrival and
it would eliminate the serious problem of immature-greens. It would
require more frequent picking of fields and there could be no delay
in packing. There would, doubtless, also be problems of temperature
and ventilation in transit. Results of tests thus far have been
rather encouraging.
Ripening
Green wrap tomatoes are received at terminal markets by produce
houses that have special ripening rooms where temperature is kept at
about 70 deg., with high humidity to prevent wilting or shriveling.
Ethylene gas is used by some to hasten ripening. It does not change
the nature of the process, merely speeding it up. Some of these
repackers have elaborate equipment for sorting and packing.
The tomatoes, on arrival, are shaken out of their paper wraps. Any
that have ripened in transit are taken out and packed while the
greens go into the ripening rooms. They may have to be sorted over
two or three times as ripening progresses.
The ripening process in tomatoes has been rather thoroughly studied.
Sando found that tomatoes ripen uniformly, regardless of size, at a
certain age, dating from the setting of the fruit. This time, which,
of course, varies according to weather conditions, was eight weeks
when the studies were made. Ripening is accompanied by an increase
in moisture, acids and sugars, with decrease of solids, nitrogen,
starch, pentisans, crude fibre and ash. Sugars increase from about a
quarter to about half of the dry weight. Chemical analysis did not
show differences sufficient to account for the difference in quality
between vine-ripened fruit and green fruit ripened in the
laboratory. Lack of ventilation seems to be detrimental.
It is commonly held that tomatoes chilled without freezing will not
ripen satisfactorily afterward. This belief is discounted by results
of Wright and associates and of Platenius who found little effect of
low temperatures upon later ripening.
Wright[20] and Platenius[21] have both found that tomatoes should
not be stored at low temperatures, 50 deg. to 60 deg. F. being best. Storage
is not likely to be satisfactory for more than a month.
Waxing
Waxing of tomatoes by immersion in a dilute water emulsion of
paraffine and carnauba waxes is being tried out with very promising
results. Waxes are also dissolved in volatile hydrocarbons and
sprayed on. Moisture loss and shriveling are materially retarded,
and interference with the ripening process is negligible. The wax
coating is very thin, adds an attractive gloss and is entirely
harmless.
[Illustration: FIGURE 19.--Packing tomatoes on a farm in
Connecticut. Boys in the background are wiping and sorting. The
others are packing in half-bushel boxes. The top slats are put on
before packing and the bottom is nailed on at the finish of the job.
A board which is turned over with the box keeps tomatoes from
falling out.]
Grading
It is generally true that at market the poorest products in a given
lot tend to fix the price. When the buyer finds a few inferior
specimens he assumes there are many more. Imperfect and diseased
specimens infect others. Grading enhances the appearance of the
pack.
[Illustration: _Courtesy Tripak Mach. Service_
FIGURE 20.--A California packing house with elaborate machinery and
fully organized.]
Of course, the grower who picks marketable tomatoes and leaves
unmarketable fruits on the vine is engaged in a form of
grading--informal and subconscious. Methods may range from this
simple practice to the elaborate schemes adopted in large packing
houses. There is no difficulty in adopting methods for the farm that
are easily managed and perfectly practical. In general, two grades
to sell represent a good plan, leaving culls at home unless prices
are high and there is good demand for them. The set-up may involve
no more than a worker at a table with three baskets--one with
tomatoes from the field; another for #1's and a third for #2's. The
worker may well use a cotton flannel glove or cloth to wipe the
tomatoes and the fruits should be placed in layers to bring the
package to a good face. With some practice, this slows the operation
but very little. Shed packing should be more common than it is
though the practice seems to be gaining.
Shippers scattered from Cuba and California to New York state have
packing houses set up to all degrees of elaborateness. Some have
machines and conveyors that wash, sort for size, provide for hand
sorting for grade and deliver to bins for packing. Experienced
packers advance with the season from Florida to Lake Erie. These
workers become almost incredibly expert and speedy. It is not
uncommon for a worker to pick up, wrap and place in the lug box 60
or 70 tomatoes per minute--not as a show-off but in course of
regular work.
[Illustration: FIGURE 21.--Puffiness is a common defect in tomatoes,
especially when grown in the winter in the South.]
The federal government has worked out and published standards for
the grades of tomatoes along with most other vegetables. These
standards are practical and have found wide acceptance as furnishing
common language between seller and buyer, especially for long
distance shipment. The one who grades may, however, set up a
standard of his own to meet the needs of his conditions and market.
U.S. Standards for cannery tomatoes are widely used as a basis of
payment to the grower and this practice is to be commended.
Packaging
The lug box has almost wholly replaced the older 6-basket carrier
and 4-basket flat for shipment of tomatoes. It is in almost every
respect, a good package for tomatoes. It is built with solid board
ends, with veneer or sawed sides, bottom and cover. Cleats on the
ends serve to raise the lids so that a bulge pack will not be
injured by pressure. Veneer covers and bottoms are held together by
stitched veneer cross pieces. The lug box is packed in three layers
and holds about 30 pounds net of tomatoes though it is often
over-packed to carry considerably more. The bulge pack is desirable
only so far as it is necessary to insure a tight pack and to take up
the small shrinkage that takes place in transit. Ordinarily, it goes
beyond this. It results in delivery of more tomatoes than are paid
for, and in bruising because the top center is too high.
[Illustration: _Courtesy Southern Arkansas Growers Association_
FIGURE 22.--The lug box is the most widely used of all tomato
packages. This is well packed and labeled but shows too much bulge
making for difficulty in loading and handling and increasing danger
of bruising the upper fruits.]
The late M. R. Ensign in Florida, was working with a wire-bound lug
to carry 20 pounds of tomatoes in two layers without bulge.
The lug box is packed in three layers and the size of fruits is
designated by the number of tomatoes each way,--6 x 6, 6 x 7, and 7
x 7 being the commonest sizes. Each tomato is wrapped in a square of
tissue paper which may or may not be printed. The principal
advantage of the paper is to cushion the pack and protect the
tomatoes against rubbing and abrasion. Where tomatoes are small,
U.S. Standards provide for "bridge pack" or partial extra layers,
for extra rows and for double wraps or two tomatoes in one paper.
[Illustration: FIGURE 23.--Lug boxes as loaded in car.]
Lug boxes were formerly loaded lengthwise of the car but are now
generally loaded crosswise,--that is, the side of the box is
crosswise throwing the heavy endwise thrust against the substantial
end of the box. Thin strips are nailed between layers, butting
against the sides of the car to prevent shifting of the load and
closing of ventilation channels. Refrigerated cars are generally
used but icing is not usual.
[Illustration: FIGURE 24.--The square braid basket is widely used as
a local market package for tomatoes. The faced pack looks better and
is easily put up. Covers permit stacking six or eight high.]
A few shipping sections, notably New Jersey, still use the 12-quart
climax basket for tomatoes.
Local markets use various containers for tomatoes,--the Boston
bushel box; a half bushel of the same depth also used in New
England; lug boxes; the Jersey tomato crate; and very commonly, 8
and 12-quart square braid veneer market baskets. Peach baskets and
bushel baskets are now used but little, being too deep for good
carrying. The diamond market basket of earlier years has about
disappeared--being too flexible and not suited for stacking. The
square braid with suitable cover may be stacked very satisfactorily
in trucks but is hardly substantial enough for rail shipment.
[Illustration: FIGURE 25.--The Connecticut half bushel box. Figure
19 shows how this is packed.]
Hot house tomatoes travel in square braid, climax or paper fibre
baskets, now rather commonly, the latter. The Cleveland section
sells some millions of baskets of 8-quart capacity but carrying 8
pounds of tomatoes in two layers, usually with stems on, usually
wrapped and sometimes with a paper divider between layers.
[Illustration: FIGURE 26.--Repacked tomatoes. Southern tomatoes go
to wholesale houses that specialize in ripening and repacking. Many
kinds of packages are used. The flat 10-pound box is one of the
popular packs especially in the Boston area.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 27.--Cellulose film is used for repacked
tomatoes.]
Cannery tomatoes move in field crates belonging to the canner or, in
Jersey, in 5/8 bushel baskets, about as awkward a container as could
be readily devised unless it should be the Jersey tomato crate
with its two cover strips permanently fastened.
Repack tomatoes are sometimes replaced in lugs or in half lugs. Ten
pound corrugated cartons are widely used, newer and fancier packs
being but one layer deep. Fruits are wrapped with paper or cellulose
film. An increasing proportion of repacks are now put up in
one-pound cartons with a window of cellulose film, carrying four or
five tomatoes. A variation is a paper tray wrapped with cellulose
film.
Good marketing calls for a good label for whatever package is used.
These are usually pasted on the package. Paper containers are often
printed directly but the problem of misuse of second hand packages
is coming to the fore.
Selling
Success in selling demands in the producer the qualities which we
ordinarily expect in the business man. The good grower is a business
man if he succeeds, and this will be more true in the future than in
the past, as competition increases. It is necessary to judge the men
one deals with, forming estimates as to reliability and character.
Mutual confidence is essential to satisfactory dealings. It is worth
while to study the produce business and to learn its ins and outs,
reading a trade paper, talking with dealers, and making trips to
markets.
Shipments are made on "f.o.b." or track sale, on consignment, or on
joint account. The first plan of outright sale is the most desirable
and is possible where there is enough business at a given point to
attract buyers or where grades and business standing are well enough
established to assure the purchaser of what he is getting. When the
quality of the product is uncertain or when markets are glutted,
consignment must be resorted to. Under this plan, the shipper owns
the goods until the receiver makes a sale and all the risks up to
this point are his. There are many consignment houses of high
character if the shipper will take the trouble to find them instead
of shipping to any one who writes a good letter, and there is
vigorous competition in the trade. These factors make it possible to
secure fairly good service most of the time. Joint account selling,
where shipper and receiver agree on how returns shall be divided, is
sometimes undertaken where mutual acquaintance justifies it.
Selling on distant markets is more complex and difficult than local
selling for many reasons. Shoving crates off the wagon into the car
and forgetting them is not selling. Co-operative organization has
helped many communities through pooling of resources, standardizing,
grading and packing the product, encouraging better field practices,
and securing the services of able managers and salesmen.
Local Selling
A very small amount of produce is sold by producers directly to the
consumer at his home, but the roadside market has greatly developed
retail activity by growers. Here fine quality, attractive
appearance, moderate prices, and fair dealing are effective in
building business. Stands that plan to "fleece them as they pass" do
not last long. It is the return business that counts. The bulk of
local selling is done directly to retailers--grocers or
hucksters--either at market or store-door. The costliness of this
system is being realized and local commission business is growing,
in many cases through the establishment of commission houses
co-operatively owned and managed by growers, as in Providence,
Cleveland, Chicago and other markets.
Some effort has been made to increase the use of tomatoes as has
been successfully done with oranges and bananas. These efforts have
been sporadic and results have been hardly more consistent than the
efforts. Co-operative publicity, especially at times when large
quantities are to be moved, would seem to offer fine possibilities.
Growers of some crops are finding chain store groups very ready to
help in moving out large volumes of produce when the supply is
large.
Cannery Selling
Cannery sales are generally made at a stipulated price on contracts
closed in advance of planting. These contracts have usually devoted
more words to protecting the interests of the packer than those of
the grower, largely because the grower has accepted the canner's
initiative with little question. Farseeing companies have been fair
in enforcement of terms and liberal in their dealings, realizing
that prosperity must be mutual for the highest success. A few
canners have contract provisions that enable the grower to share in
prices realized for the packed product when they rise beyond a
certain figure. Too many canners have lacked vision, however, and
have taken all they could get. Farmers have known little about costs
and so have frequently been lured by the prospect of cash return
even though they see no money until the packed tomatoes are actually
sold. During recent years, much has been learned about the business
side of growing for cannery purposes and the knowledge has been made
available through extension channels. Growers have shown some
tendency to organize and some canners welcome this movement as
helping them to set their affairs on a plane of definite
understanding. Canners have suffered sadly through failure of
growers to live up to contracts if it suited them better to evade
the terms, and organization helps greatly to develop the producer's
sense of responsibility. Indiana has formed a federation of locals,
but an organization movement in another state failed, more because
the directors and members did not live up to their duties than
through opposition of certain hostile canners. Co-operation in this
field has the same possibilities, requirements and dangers as in
other fields. With time and experience, co-operation will be an
increasing and beneficial factor in the business.
In some sections, most of the cannery tomatoes are sold on open
market, and in others, the early part of the crop is free for local
sale or shipment. This arrangement would seem to have possibilities
for further development by the use of good plants and good culture.
IX
OPERATING IN THE RED OR IN THE BLACK
Happily, the home gardener does not need to keep books with his
tomatoes. If he likes the culture and the product, he need not
inquire further.
Not so with the commercial grower. After all skill has been
exercised in growing and selling, the books must show black and not
red. This calls for good management and judgment not only as to what
is best for the tomatoes and for the consumer but also how much one
can afford to spend to gain a given advantage.
Fortunately, quality, yield and economy generally go hand in hand.
One of the best ways to achieve low unit cost is to win a high yield
per acre.
For the cannery crop, conditions are sometimes such that one cannot
afford to apply, say, optimum fertilizer because some other factor
not readily controlled may limit the returns and so make heavy
feeding uneconomical.
_Yield._--The average yield per acre of cannery tomatoes for the
United States was, in 1940, 5.39 tons per acre and the 10-year
average, to 1938, was 4.15 tons per acre. For tomatoes for fresh
market, the average yield for 1940 was 148 bushels per acre, 14
bushels above the 10-year average. Of course, these yields would not
satisfy a grower who calls himself successful. In the canning
sections of New York, it takes about 7 tons per acre to cover costs
of production. Some years ago a survey in Arkansas recorded costs as
low as $36 per acre. However, the same survey showed cost per ton as
$13.64. Cannery contracts that year averaged about $12.75 per ton.
That does not yield much money to bank even if ten or twenty acres
are grown. Rarely yields run to 25 tons per acre.
It is accordingly necessary to keep costs down and to bring yields
up. Each item of cost must be scrutinized and adjusted to bring
lowest cost per ton or per package.