70 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



might be safely transferred to a northern climate ; but would there 

 be promise of enough future usefulness, in such a case as this, 

 to warrant our carrying the plant north as an article of food ? 

 Suppose, further, we should ascertain that the fruit in question 

 was relished not only by the natives of its home, but that it had 

 found favor among the tribes of south Mexico and Central Amer- 

 ica, and had been cultivated by them until it had attained a large 

 size ; should we be strengthened in our venture ? Let us go one 

 step further still. Suppose that having decided upon the intro- 

 duction of the plant, and having urged everybody to try it, we 

 should find it discarded as a fruit, but taking a place in gardens 

 as a curiosity under an absurd name, or as a basis for preserves 

 and pickles ; should we not look upon our experiment in the in- 

 troduction of this new plant as a failure ? This is not a hypotheti- 

 cal case. 



The tomato,* the plant in question, was cultivated in Europe 

 as long ago as 1554 ; f it was known in Virginia in 1781 and in the 

 Northern States in 1785 ; but it found its way into favor slowly, 

 even in this land of its origin. A credible witness states that in 

 Salem it was almost impossible to induce people to eat or even 

 taste of the fruit. And yet, as you are well aware, its present 

 cultivation on an enormous scale in Europe and this country is 

 scarcely sufficient to meet the increasing demand. 



A plant which belongs to the family of the tomato has been 

 known to the public under the name of the strawberry tomato. 

 The juicy yellow or orange-colored fruit is inclosed in a papery 

 calyx of large size. The descriptions which were published when 

 the plant was i^laced on the market were attractive, and were not 

 exaggerated to a misleading extent. But, as you all know, the 

 plant never gained any popularity. If we look at these two cases 

 carefully we shall see that what appears to be caprice on the part 

 of the public is at bottom common sense. The cases illustrate as 

 well as any which are at command the difficulties which sur- 

 round the whole subject of the introduction of new foods. 



* According to notes made by Mr. Manning, Secretary Massacbusetts Horticultural 

 Society (History Massachusetts Horticultural Society), the tomato was introduced into 

 Salem, Mass., about 1802 by Michele Felice Cornc, an Italian painter, but he found it diffi- 

 cult to persuade people even to taste the fruit (Felt's Annals of Salem, vol. ii, p. 631). 

 It was said to have been introduced into Philadelphia by a French refugee from Santo 

 Domingo in 1798. It was used as an article of food in New Orleans in 1812, but was not 

 sold in the markets of Philadelphia until 1829. It did not come into general use in the 

 North until some years after the last-named date. 



f " In Spain and those hot regions, they use to eat the (love) apples prepared and 

 boiled with pepper, salt, and olives ; but they yield very little nourishment to the 

 bodies, and the same nought and corrupt. Likewise they doe eat the apples with oile, 

 vinegar, and pepper mixed together for sauce to their meat even as we in these Cold 

 Countries do Mustard." (Gerard's Herbal, p. 316.) 



