The Tomato. 301 



The TOMATO ( Ly coper sicum esculentum) is a native 

 of Peru, from which country, bringing its native name 

 tamate, it was introduced into Europe in the beginning 

 of the sixteenth century. England received it earlier 

 than even the potato, a very curious circumstance, since, 

 while the latter has been a national aliment for quite two 

 centuries, the tomato, until quite lately, has been almost 

 neglected. The introduction of the tomato, in this our 

 own current age, to the middle and lower classes of the 

 people of England, as a staple article of food, may 

 unhesitatingly be pronounced one of the greatest boons 

 they have ever received from horticulture. No esculent 

 is placed upon table of more distinctly excellent dietetic 

 qualities ; and before long, it is to be hoped that as much 

 use will be made of it as upon the Continent and in the 

 United States, where a dinner is scarcely served up in 

 which the tomato, in some shape, does not appear. The 

 plant, like many others of its race, is somewhat of a 

 straggler, though, when trained, tidy enough, and then 

 branching to the height of several feet. The leaves and 

 the flowers are both fashioned upon the type of the 

 potato, only that the petals are yellow. Many capital 

 varieties have already come into existence. In some the 

 fruit is yellow; in some it is no larger than a red-currant; 

 in Jersey, tomatos are grown to weights over a pound. 

 Those in which the flowers are disposed in long zigzag 

 racemes appear to be the best for cultural purposes; 

 those in particular which are of dwarf habit of growth, 

 and which will succeed out-of-doors. In the very front 



