Selection of Soil for Maximum Crop
Large yields of tomatoes have been, and can be, obtained from soils of
varying composition, from a gumbo prairie, a black marsh muck, or a
stiff, tenacious clay, to one of light drifting sand, provided other
conditions, such as drainage, tilth and fertility are favorable. The
Connecticut experiment station and others have secured good results from
plants grown under glass in a soil of sifted coal ashes and muck, or
even from coal ashes alone, the requisite plant food being supplied in
solution. But a maximum crop could never, and a full one very seldom, be
produced on a soil, no matter what its composition, which could not be,
or was not put into and kept in a good state of tilth, or on one which
was poorly drained, sodden or sour, or which was so leachy that it was
impossible to retain a fair supply of moisture and of plant food.
Of the 10 largest yields of which I have personal knowledge and which
ran from 1,000 to 1,200 bushels of fruit (acceptable for canning and at
least two-thirds of it of prime market quality) an acre, four were grown
on soils classed as clay loam, two on heavy clay--one of which was so
heavy that clay for making brick was subsequently taken from the very
spot which yielded the most and best fruit--one on what had been a black
ash swamp, one on a sandy muck, two on a sandy loam and one on a light
sand made very rich by heavy, annual manuring for several years. They
were all perfectly watered and drained, in good heart, liberally
fertilized with manures of proved right proportions for each field, and
above all, the fields were put into and kept in perfect tilth by methods
suited to each case; while the plants used were of good stock and so
grown, set and cultivated that their growth was never stopped or hardly
checked for even a day. These conditions as to soil and culture,
together with seasons of exceptionally favorable weather, resulted in
uniformly large crops on these widely different soils.
[Illustration: FIG. 12--TOMATOES TRAINED TO STAKES ON A GEORGIA FARM]
The composition of the soil, then, as to its proportions of sand or clay
is of minor importance as regards a maximum yield or as to quality of
the fruit, except as it affects our ability to put and keep the soil in
good physical condition. The tomato crop, however, particularly when the
plants are trimmed and trained to stakes, as is the usual practice in
the South, as seen in Fig. 12, with crops grown for early shipment,
necessitates in the trimming and training of the plants and the
gathering of the fruit when it is in the right degree of maturity for
shipment a great deal of trampling of the surface regardless of whether
it is wet or dry. Consequently if the surface soil has any considerable
proportion of clay there is danger of compacting and even puddling it by
working when wet, to the great detriment of the crop. Again, a more or
less sandy surface soil can be much more easily worked than one with a
large proportion of clay. For these reasons our choice of a soil for the
lowest cost a bushel and probably for a maximum yield should be a rich
sandy or sandy loam surface soil overlying a well-drained clay
sub-soil. I would prefer one which was originally covered with a heavy
growth of beech and maple timber, though I should want it to be "old
land" at the time. Tomatoes do not succeed as well on prairie soils,
particularly if they are at all heavy, as they do on timbered lands, but
one need not despair of a profitable crop of tomatoes on any soil which
would give a fair crop of corn or of cotton.
=For early-ripening fruit.=--Sometimes the profit and satisfaction from
a tomato crop depend more largely upon the earliness of ripening than
upon the amount of yield or cost of growing. In such cases a warm, sandy
loam, or even a distinctly sandy soil, is to be preferred, as this is
apt to be warmer and the fruit will be matured much earlier on it than
on a heavier soil. It is essential, however, that it be well drained and
warm. Often lands classed as sandy are really colder than some of those
classed as clay, and such soils should be carefully avoided if early
maturity is important.
=For the home garden.=--Here we seldom have a choice, but no one need
despair and abandon effort, no matter what the soil may be, for it is
quite possible to raise an abundant home supply on any soil and that,
too, without inordinate cost and labor. Some of the most prolific plants
and the finest fruits I have ever seen were grown in a village lot which
five years before had been filled in to a depth of 3 to 10 feet with
clay, coal ashes and refuse from a brick and coal yard. In another
instance magnificent fruit was grown in a garden where the soil was
originally made up chiefly of sawdust mixed with sand, drawn on a
foundation of sawmill edgings so as to raise it above the water of a
swamp. Where one has to contend with such conditions he should make an
effort to create a friable soil with a supply of humus by adding the
material needed. A very few loads, sometimes even a single load, of clay
or sand will greatly change the character of the soil of a sufficient
area to grow the one or two dozen plants necessary for a family supply.
In the two cases mentioned, the owner of the first named garden used
both sand and sawdust to lighten his soil, while the second drew a great
many loads of clay on his.
=Growing under glass.=--I would make up a soil composed of about three
parts rotted sod, two or three parts of well-rotted stable manure (and
it is very important that it be well decomposed) and one part either of
coarse, sharp sand, sandy loam or clay loam, according as the sod soil
is light or heavy, the aim being to form a rich, light, open soil rather
than one which is as heavy and compact as desirable for some plants. If
sod soil is not available, of course, garden loam can be substituted,
but it is very important that the soil be thoroughly mixed, and
desirable that it be prepared sometime before it is to be used. Some
growers use the same soil for several crops, simply adding some fresh
manure; but, if so used, it is important that it be stirred and
thoroughly re-mixed and sterilized.