432 GARDEN FARMING 



was for a long time held in disrepute by gardeners and people 

 generally. For at least a century after it was known to botanists 

 and gardeners, it was very sparingly cultivated, and then chiefly 

 as an ornamental. As a commercial product, therefore, it was 

 greatly delayed, and it was not until the feeling that the tomato 

 was poisonous was changed that its cultivation began to attract 

 attention and its use became general. 



Its cultivation in England and the United States came much 

 later than in the countries bordering the Mediterranean. Climatic 

 conditions undoubtedly had much to do with this. In the warm 

 climate and otherwise congenial atmosphere of the Mediterranean 

 countries, the tomato flourished ; in England, however, because of 

 the comparatively short season and small amount of heat during 

 the growing period, its cultivation spread slowly. Even now, 

 four centuries after its discovery, the growing of the tomato in 

 Great Britain is confined chiefly to houses and protected walls. In 

 the United States, after the plant was once introduced and its 

 poisonous effects discredited, its cultivation spread rapidly, and now 

 we find it among the most universally cultivated of our garden 

 vegetables. 



The original habitat of the tomato is not known, but historical 

 evidence seems to show that the plant was first carried to Europe 

 from Peru. 



Botany. The genus Lycopersicum, to which the tomato belongs, 

 contains several species besides the three which are more or less 

 commonly met with in our gardens and which are later on referred 

 to as the parents of the three types. The currant tomato is known 

 as Lycopersicum pimpimellifolium> the cherry tomato as Lycoper- 

 sicum cerasiforme, and the common garden tomato as Lycopersicum 

 esculentum. 



Types. There are now a number of distinct types of the tomato 

 in cultivation, three of which are worthy of mention ; namely, the 

 currant type, the cherry type, and the common commercial type, 

 of which there are many varieties. 



The currant type. The currant tomato is a weak-growing, small- 

 leaved, small-fruited plant, bearing its fruit in large currantlike 

 clusters, the individual fruits being about \ inch in diameter and 

 usually red in color. 



