I believe Randy has been around a tomato patch. In the 1940s the farmers around Fruitland raised lots of tomatoes and cabbage for shipment to the northern markets. There were 3 large "pack sheds" there at the time where the farmers brought the vegetables to be crated and loaded on railroad cars for shipment. The tomato plants were started in large hot beds and then set out in the fields after the weather warmed. A "stick" was drove by each plant, and as the plant grew, the workers would then go thur the field and break the suckers from above the limbs that grew the tomatoes. They would also tie the plant to the stick with twine. By keeping the suckers off the plants, the tomatoes would all be ready to pick about the same time. When they got about the size of a baseball, or maybe a little larger, they were picked green. I guess they ripened on the long train ride. The suckering and tying in the hot weather of June was quite a job, and by the end of the day, you were as "green"! as the plants. Man, I miss those good old days, lol. Red Anthony days, lol. Red Anthony