I worked on Joe Bertothy's cornfields back in the 1940's. Joe had a small area set aside for the fabled Jersey tomato (4 or 5 rows) and his output was not enough to truck over to the Stokeley plant on Lalor Street. However, many of us veteran Trenton area residents remember seeing the huge line of farm trucks laden with tomatoes as they were being unloaded at the Stokeley receiving doc. The aforementioned veteran Trentonians will also recall how the baskets being transported via those trucks were tilted to the centerline of the truck to assure proper weight distribution. Ahh, those memories. I remember Bobby Soffel, Don Slabicki and I sitting in a tomato patch on a warm summer day, each with a salt shaker, imbibing in a snack of a ripe Jersey tomato. We would pick the ones closest to the ground, wipe off the dust and dirt, and enjoy. MMM-mmm GOOD!
