DEPARTMENT OF HORTICULTURE. 237 



the New York Experiment Station, iji very recent years. References to these 

 records will be found in the text wherever I have used them. Following the 

 Synopsis is a table of the varieties with names as we received them, supple- 

 mented by columns giving time of germination, productiveness, and per cent, 

 of rot. 



SYNOPSIS OF CULTIVATED TOMATOES. 



I. LYCOPERSICUM ESCULENTUM, Miller, Gard. Diet. (1768). Salanum 

 Lyco2}ersicum, Linn, Sp. PL, ed. i. 150 (1753). Lycopersicnm cerasi- 

 forme, Dunal, Hist., Sol , 113 (1813). L. pyriforme, Dunal, 1. c. 112. 

 L. esculenticm var. cerasiforme, Gray, Bot. Cal. i. 538 ; Syn. Fl. N» 

 Amer. ii., part i., 226. Leaflets ovate-acuminate or lance-ovate, variously 

 cut and parted. 



This, the ordinary tomato, is a native of Peru. The original wild type is the 

 form designated by botanists as Lycopersicum cerasiforme, " cherry tomato "' 

 of the gardens. The cherry tomato is still known in a wild state in South 

 America, and it is either indigenous or spontaneous as far north as the lower 

 border of Texas. It is distinguished from the ordinary market tomatoes by 

 its weaker growth and its small, regular, spherical, two-celled fruit. It appears 

 to have been early cultivated in Peru, there developing into some form of the 

 common tomato. The first effect of domestication appears to have been the 

 increasing of the number of cells in the fruit. This increase of cells is due 

 in part to the doubling of the flowers by cultivation, and in part to the growth 

 of adventitious cells after the fruit is partly grown. In some of the large 

 irregular tomatoes I find as many as twenty cells. The dark " ring " Avhich 

 appears on the top of overgrown tomatoes marks a rupture, very gradual to be 

 sure, of the cell divisions by the interposition, the forcing-in of new cells. 

 These more or less developed new cells are often indicated by the excrescences- 

 within the "ring." The pear-shajied tomatoes, heretofore called Lycopersicum 

 pyriforme, are evidently only cultural sports from either the original cherry 

 tomato or its garden offspring. The pear-shaped and the larger garden toma- 

 toes are unknown in a wild state. The tomato was grown in Europe in 1561,* 

 and probably earlier. In 1583 the fruit was eaten upon the continent '^dressed 

 with pepper, salt and oil."f English authors speak of it in 1597J and 1656§, 

 but mention it as grown for curiosity only. In 1752 Miller** records its use 

 in England for flavoring soups. In 1819f f four red varieties were grown in 

 Europe : Large Love Apple or Tomate grosse. Small Love Apple or Tomate 

 petite. Pear-shaped Love Apple or Tomate en poire, and the Cherry Love 

 Apple or Tomate cerise. There were two yellow varieties : Large Yellow 

 Love Apple and Cherry Yellow Love Apple or Tomate petite jaune. As early 

 as 1623* four sorts were known, the yellow, golden, red, and white. The 

 white variety was even known to Besler in 1613. f Tournefort.vJ 1700, mentions 

 seven sorts, among them one which was pale red. At the beginning of the 

 nineteenth century three of these old varieties were unknown, the white, 



* Anguillaria, Simp., 317. 



+ Dodonsei Stirp. Hist, 455. 

 $ Gerarde, Herball, 375. 

 § Parkinson, Paradisus. 

 ** Gardener's Diet. 

 ++ Hort. Trans. Lond. iii., 347. 



* Caspar Bauhin, Pinax, 167. 

 tHortus Eystitensis. 



t Inst. Rei Herb, i., 850. 



