ALEXANDER W. LIVINGSTONE. 



Fig. 1508. — A. W. Livingston, Colo., Ohio. 



£S\ f^HE death of Alexander W. Liv- 

 ingstone, which occurred at his 

 house in Columbus, Ohio, on 

 the tenth November, closes a useful and 

 successful career and one of special in- 

 terest to members of the "gentle art." 

 His work on the improvement of the 

 tomato has been of almost world-wide 

 benefit. Wherever tomatoes are grown 

 Livingstone's " Beauty " and Living- 

 stone's " Favorite " are known. While 

 not a wealthy man, as business men in 

 these days are acknowledged wealthy, 

 the two seed-businesses established by 

 him, and now owned by his sons, one in 

 his home city and one at Des Moines, 

 Iowa, both with reputations for integrity 

 and fair dealing, give evidence of his 

 success in a business sense. The story 

 of his life work is especially interesting 

 to men who practise intensive culture of 

 the soil, showing as it does, how a man 

 self-trained in nature's methods, vifth 

 quick perception and faculties for close 

 observation ; with patience and hopeful- 



ness that long years of disappointing 

 experiment did not dampen ; and with 

 the experience and skill induced by these 

 years of unproductive work, did at length 

 succeed in giving to the world a tomato 

 fruit like the " Paragon," — to be fol- 

 lowed by varieties of even finer quality, 

 — developed from the rough, sour, seedy, 

 and watery fruits that were found grow- 

 ing wild in the fence corners when he 

 was a young lad. The question of hy- 

 bridization vs. selection for the improve- 

 ment of fruits and vegetables is also 

 given renewed interest by this event. 

 Mr. Livingstone followed the lines of 

 selection in his work ; and while some 

 learned and skilled teachers and writers 

 on Horticulture may hesitate to give full 

 credit to him and his methods, there is 

 no room for doubt about the honesty of 

 his statements regarding his mode of 

 work, and the results of his patient labor 

 speak volumes on the success of these 

 methods. The principle of " selection " 

 is, in these days, taking a prominent 

 place in the methods of fruit and vege- 

 table growers. Working on this line 

 Kellogg, of Michigan, raises and sells 

 " thorough-bred " small fruit plants ; 

 Rogers, and other nurserymen, apply 

 the same principle to the growing of the 

 large fruit trees for sale ; and Prof. Bai- 

 ley and S. D. Willard of New York act 

 on it in setting out their private orch- 

 ards. 



Mr. Livingstone's work on the to- 

 mato on the lines of selection in the ear- 

 lier years was disappointing, because the 

 selection was confined to taking the best 

 specimens of fruits for seed, regardless 

 of the character of the plant. Cultiva- 

 tion of the plant and selection of the 

 best fruits for seed had made some im- 

 provement in the fruit over that of the 

 wild plant ; but while this inferior fruit 



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