1869. ] 



ORNAMENTAL VARIETIES OF TOMATOS. 73 



ORNAMENTAL VARIETIES OF TOMATOS. 



WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 



EOWN in pots, the Tomato makes a very handsome decorative plant, the 

 Cherry, Plum, and other small-fruited sorts especially so. Few plants are 

 pST more strikingly ornamental in the Autumn months than these, when well 

 grown and laden with their numerous clusters of brilliantly coloured 

 fruits. As the ornamental character of these smaller-fruited sorts is not com- 

 monly known or appreciated, we have thought it desirable to furnish our readers 

 with coloured representations of some of them. 



There is little to add by way of description to the account given of the 

 various sorts of Tomato in a recent volume of our former series (1867, p. 238), 

 but we may here indicate the special peculiarities of those which have been 

 selected for illustration. Fig. 1 represents the Feejee Island Tomato, which is 

 remarkable amongst the larger sorts for its decided crimson colour, and for the 

 slightly marked ribs which occur near the base of its fruits. Fig. 2 shows the 

 Orangefield Tomato, which is the same as the Large Eed Italian, and is a very 

 excellent culinary sort, and remarkably prolific. Fig. 3 shows the Yellow 

 Plum Tomato, a strikingly ornamental variety, the fruits of which are about the 

 size and shape of a damson. Fig. 4 represents the Pear-formed Tomato, which 

 is red, and of rather larger size than the plum-shaped, Fig. 5 is the Yellow 

 Cherry Tomato, whose still smaller spherical yellow fruits, equally with those 

 of the red-fruited form, are produced in great abundance, and have a very attrac- 

 tive appearance. The three latter sorts are especially recommended for the great 

 beauty of the plants, when well-grown, and full of fruit. They may be success- 

 fully grown in pots for house decoration, and their quality is quite equal to that 

 of the larger sorts from the utilitarian point of view. 



The Currant Tomato, of which a fragment is represented at Fig. 6, is the 

 most ornamental of the whole series. In foliage and general aspect it resembles 

 the ordinary kinds, but it is smaller and more slender, and the fruits grow in 

 long, drooping racemes, of which the basal portion only is shown in our figure. 

 These long racemes of fruit, of a bright red colour, give the plant a very beautiful 

 appearance. Messrs. Vilmorin, by whom it has been distributed under the name 

 of Solanum (Lycopersicum) racemigerum, give the following account of it : — 

 This most ornamental species of Tomato has been received from M. Durieu de 

 Maisonneuve, the learned director of the Bordeaux Botanic Garden. It is a 

 veritable Tomato, the sub-climbing stems of which are very much branched, and 

 bear a profusion of simple or divided racemes from 6 in. to 8 in. long, composed 

 of from fifteen to twenty-five smooth, round fruits, disposed in two rows, and of 

 a very bright scarlet colour, so as to give them a strong resemblance to clusters 

 of red currants. It is a most interesting plant, which may be thoroughly utilized 

 as an object of ornament, under the treatment given to the culinary Tomato. 

 3rd Series. — n. e 



