George Ross Recommends Sandhills Grow Tomatoes, Jan. 23, 1925

Tomato Crop. . . George R. Ross Suggests Tomato Crop for the Sandhills. . . Why Not Make the Tomato a Commercial Crop in North Carolina?

The tomato is one of the most widely used vegetables of this day and age as evidenced by the fact that carload shipments of the United States have increased from 16,710 cars in 1920 to 24,005 in 1923, an increase of 7,295 cars in three years. Our neighboring State of South Carolina has increased its shipments from 13 cars in 1920 to 394 in 1924.

North Carolina tomatoes should be planted so that the harvest and shipping takes place from July 1 to July 20 as at about this time the northern markets are bare of this vegetable. There is a wide lapse between Mississippi-Tennessee tomato crops and the New Jersey shipping period. After the New Jersey crop begins to move in large quantities, the North Caolina product would naturally be driven off the markets; but that portion of the crop which would remain in the fields when the northern states begin shipping could be canned. In the 1923 season the Mississippi tomato growers lost money on their tomato crop and this naturally will have a tendency to check production in that section. South Carolina has been increasing its tomato acreage in spite of the stiff competition that the Mississippi crop gives it. It has overcome this competition and the South Carolina tomatoes are preferred over their competitors due to the good grade and pack they ship.

Early tomatoes are probably better adapted to the sandhills sections of North Carolina than any other section of the State due to the light sandy nature of the soil and the susceptibility of tomatoes to e drowned out by such heavy rains as occur in the eastern part of the State. Tomato rust can be controlled by judicial spraying, particularly when the tomatoes are grown on light, sandy soil which drain off quickly after rains.

In developing a tomato industry for the State, it is highly desirable that a large acreage be planted in a locality so that the shipments can be made in carload quantities.

From the front page of the Sandhill Citizen, Southern Pines, Friday, Jan. 23, 1925

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92061634/1925-01-23/ed-1/seq-1/