January 3,1835. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
3 
spondents whom he has never seen, but to whom our common love 
has been a bond of sympathy ; and so, being a parson, he may 
close with the expression of hope that you may be led through all 
the scenes of earthly life to look forward to that home where “The 
tree of life is for the healing of the nations,” and so to our venerated 
chief and his able coadjutors and the contributors who have so 
much tended to keep op the character of the Journal, and 
to its readers, young and old, I wish a very Happy New Year.— 
D., Deal. 
THE STATUS OF THE TOMATO. 
Only general acceptance can enable the Tomato to be admitted 
to the select circle of fruits. If in relation to its consumption we 
had began with it in the same way that public taste seems tending, 
we should have placed it in the category of dessert fruits at the 
first. Unfortunately, we began by using it as a cooked vegetable, 
and from that low status it seems very difficult to lift it, in spite of 
the fact that its improvement has been so remarkable. It seems 
very probable that in a few years, whatsoever experts or authorities 
may determine, that public opinion and taste would settle the 
matter by including Tomatoes amongst dessert fruits, and as 
such admitting them to our tables. Once so full a recognition of 
the proper status of a Tomato be made then its exhibition status 
must follow suit. 
The Tomato occupies an unique position amongst garden pro¬ 
ducts because of its various uses. It is consumed very largely in 
its ripe uncooked condition as is any other fruit. It is also eaten, 
and largely too, as a salad, and not least it is consumed as a cooked 
vegetable. No wonder then if its status presents elements of 
uncertainty that it can never be dissociated from vegetables seems 
certain. Its position in that respect is too far assured, and its uses 
as a salad and as a cooked vegetable compel that position. But 
on the other hand it is in every sense as much a fruit botanically 
as is anything eaten, and if partaken of in a raw ripe state as are 
Apples and Pears, then does it seem to be just as much a fruit as 
are either of those, for they too are largely partaken of in a cooked 
form, as sauce or stewed, without in any way losing status. The 
question raised by Mr. Wilks is getting an old one, as it is con¬ 
stantly being asked, but the oftener it is asked the greater does it 
seem to be insured of settlement. 
After all, the solution seems chiefly to lie with framers of 
schedules, because the matter seems to have interest only in connec¬ 
tion with exhibition competitions. In all other respects I know of 
nothing to prevent persons showing or calling Tomatoes under the 
heading of fruit, or whatever they like. Then the framers of 
schedules may ignore the claims of Tomatoes to be classed as 
fruits altogether, and admit them and classes for them only under 
the head of vegetables ; or they may place them under the heading 
of fruits, making them admissible in fruit classes only ; or they 
may do the more reasonable thing—not only leave it quite optional 
with exhibitors of collections of fruits to include Tomatoes, but 
include one or more classes under the fruit section for the smaller 
fruited forms that are so handsome on the dessert table. 
The setting up of a rigid non possumus seems to be both 
arbitrary and undesirable. It looks as if there were efforts made 
to check the use of the Tomato as an ordinary ripe raw fruit, than 
which nothing could be more ungenerous or ridiculous. One very 
special need in relation to Tomatoes now is not in the direction of 
prolificacy or beauty. It seems impossible to advance in either 
direction, although we yet may. It is in the production of higher 
flavour that we want to see an advance, although most good 
Tomatoes have in their season very agreeable flavour now. But our 
palates are hardly content with ordinary flavours. We are always 
craving for something high or piquant. Our palates have been 
demoralised by rich fruits. Pine Apples, Muscat Grapes, rich Pears 
or Apples, strongly flavoured Nectarines and Plums ; also by con¬ 
stant use of meats and condiments and liquors. With such 
competition the Tomato seems almost tame and insipid, yet to a 
purely natural palate its soft flesh and juicy nature are delicious. 
It does not tempt to a feast, much less to a gorge ; but it is 
delightfully refreshing and satisfying. 
The more we bring up our children to natural tastes and habits 
the better they will in later life learn to appreciate the mild 
unstimulating flavour of Tomatoes, but if they are to be almost fed 
on sweets and cakes, then only will they be content in later life 
with fruits that have the strongest of flavours. As it is, bad are 
the Tomatoes that are not more pleasant eating than are myriads 
of Melons, yet the Melon holds a strong position in fruit classes, 
and is constantly found in collections. I hesitate not to say, with 
all respect to others’ opinions, knowing from long experience how 
deceptive the most beautiful looking Melons may be when cot 
and tasted, and how few out of the whole have real edible merit, 
that I should regard a pretty, well ripened dish of rather small 
Tomatoes at any time as preferable to a Melon that may be 
absolutely worthless. 
I hope that the suggestion that the Tomato may be freely 
admitted into both sections, fruit and vegetables, at shows will 
soon be universally adopted.—A. D. 
GENTIANA KDRROO v. BREVIDENS. 
This plant is but of recent introduction into England, having 
reached us as late as the year 1892 from St. Petersburg. The specific 
type, G. Kurroo, Pneumonanthe Kurroo of D n, was imported only a 
FIG. 1.— GENTIANA KURROO VAR. BREVIDENS. 
few years earlier in 1879 by Mr. Bull. Sir Joseph D. Hooker locates the 
plant in the Western Himalayas, between Garwhal westward to Kash¬ 
mir, where it is described as one of the most ornamental of the local 
herbaceous perennials. It flourishes between the elevations of 5000 to 
8000 feet, the brilliancy of the foliage, the delicate azure blue of the 
limbs of the corolla sprinkled in the throat of the tube with pearly 
white, making it a noticeable feature. 
The specific name is distinctly happy, being euphonious, and per¬ 
petuating the name given it by the natives of Garwhal, to whom the 
plant is well known, and of medicinal use. This is due to the bitter 
principle present in the roots, in common with other species of the 
genus, though it is to be hoped with less fatal results to its existence on 
the Himalayan slopes than to its congeners on the European Alps, 
whence the species alluded are rapidly being removed by the collectors of 
Gentian roots for herbalists. 
It is distinctly, from its dwarf spreading habit, and the brilliancy of 
its colouration, and the lightness and brightness of its tufted leaves^ 
a considerable acquisition for (he rockery. The flower stems lie 
prostrate on the ground for about half their length, varying from 4 to 
8 inches, the coriaceous leaves growing from 3 to 5 inches long. Their 
shapes may be seen in our engraving (fig. 1) made from a plant which 
