138 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



mentioned as early as 1561, i while in 1583 "the fruit was eaten 

 upon the continent, dressed with pepper, salt, and oil. 2" It was 

 grown in England in 1597,^ but for mau}^ years was used only for 

 ornament. In 1700'* Tournefort mentions seven varieties, one of 

 which was pale red, one striped, two yellow, one white, and two 

 red ; but the culture was still neglected, for in 1819^'' only four red 

 varieties are mentioned, and the pale red sort is not named. 



England was much behind the Continent in the general culture 

 of the tomato, but our own country was still later. The fruit is 

 said to have been introduced into Philadelphia by a French 

 refugee from St. Domingo in 1798, ^ and in 1806 M'Mahon writes: 

 " The tomato is much cultivated for its fruit in soups and sauces, 

 . . . and is also stewed and dressed in various ways and very 

 much admired."^ It was introduced into Salem, Mass., about 

 1802 by an Italian painter, Corne, " but he found it difficult to 

 persuade the people even to taste the fruit. ""^ 



The tomato began to be cultivated for market in this country 

 about 1829, but not until 1839 was it mentioned in the premium 

 lists of this Society. 9 



Variation in the Type. — As before remarked, the Cherry tomato 

 of the gardens approaches very nearly the wild type of the 

 species, but the tomato is one of the most variable fruits we have 

 under cultivation, and is readily susceptible to the influence of 

 selection. Its variability lies mainly in size, form, and number of 

 cells, and, as shown by Bailey, i° the latter character may, to a 

 large extent determine the former. In nature there is a definite 

 number of cells in the fruit of any given species, but one of the 

 first effects of cultivation is to render this character inconstant. 

 In our cultivated varieties of tomatoes, we find almost as many 

 different forms and combinations of cells as there are individual 

 fruits. In the wild type there are normally two cells. The 

 effect of cultivation has been to increase the size of the fruit by 

 the interposition of new cells, this condition resulting in the 

 angular shapes characterizing many of the garden forms. In 



'Aiiguillara, Semp., 217. 'M'Mahon, Garil. Calendar, 319. 

 ^Uortonaei Stirp. Hist., 4.")5. 'Felt, Annals of Salem, II, 631; cited by 



"Gerarde, Uerball, 1st ed., 275. Manning, Hist. Mass. Hort. Soc, 40. 



^Inst. Rei. Herb., 1, 150. ''Manning, Hist. Mass. Hort. Soc, 248. 



"Trans. Lond. Hort. Soc, III, 347. '"Am. Naturalist, June, 1887, 573. 

 ^Manning, Hist. Mass. Hort. Soc, 40. 



