1881. ] 
THE TRENTHAM EARLY FILL-BASKET TOMATO. 
183 
THE TRENTHAM EARLY FILL-BASKET TOMATO. 
[Plate 552.] 
GpjON very few cases has the cultivation of a 
6] p particular kind of fruit developed with 
us so rapidly as that of the Tomato has 
done within the last eight or ten years. Before 
that period, Tomatos were grown in this 
country only as a summer crop, either against 
a south wall, or rarely in very sheltered situa¬ 
tions in the open quarters ; but now, for some 
time past, they have been afforded glass accom¬ 
modation, the crops have been grown in succes¬ 
sion as continuously as those of the Cucumber, 
and the fruit has become regarded almost as a 
necessity of daily requirement throughout the 
year. Some persons, indeed, affect to dislike 
them; but it is evident that a much greater 
number eat them with avidity and relish, and 
the consequence is that large quantities are 
grown and consumed, not only in private fami¬ 
lies, where they are specially cultivated for 
home use, but also by that larger family, the 
public, which obtains its supplies through the 
open market. So great, indeed, is the demand, 
that Tomatos are found to be a very profitable 
crop to cultivate for market purposes. 
Tomatos, it is well known, form an excellent 
pickle while the fruit is still green, but it is 
not so generally known that the green, unripe 
fruit makes a preserve of a distinct and agree¬ 
able character. Hence, the immature green 
fruits of the outdoor crops may all be utilised; 
though if gathered without bruising or other 
injury, and laid in a warm place, such as the 
shelves of a well-appointed kitchen, those 
which are half-grown and upwards will, most 
of them, gradually ripen and acquire their 
natural red colour. The ripe fruits may be 
made into various delicious sauces and ketchups, 
besides being eaten either raw or cooked in a 
variety of ways. “ Used as an article of diet, 
they are considered beneficial in affections of 
the liver, indigestion, diarrhoea, and other com¬ 
plaints” (Treasury of Botany). 
With the advance of the Tomato in public 
favour, there has been a corresponding advance 
in the merits, and an increase in the number, of 
varieties grown. In this matter the Americans 
have assisted us—for the Tomato is held in very 
great esteem in the United States, as it is also 
in the South of Europe—and we have now not 
only red and yellow-fruited sorts, but varieties 
of every size and character, from ribbed to 
smooth, and from the monster Trophy and 
Goliath to the diminutive Cherry and Currant 
Tomatos. Of course, while this increase in 
numbers has been going on, the special merits 
and demerits of paiticular sorts have been noted, 
and the good qualities of the fruit as a garden 
crop have been formulated, until it comes to 
pass that the best Tomatos, those most sought 
after by cultivators, combine such qualities as 
early fertility, productiveness, successional bear¬ 
ing, and a free, healthy, and vigorous, but not 
over-luxuriant habit of growth — not soon 
wearing out, not producing a glut of fruit and 
then failing, not bearing fruit of monstrous 
size in limited numbers, and not growing 
on indefinitely without yielding fruit at all. 
These latter qualities are avoided, and those 
sorts are chosen in preference in which the 
main characteristics are earlinsss, productive¬ 
ness, and continuity of cropping. None of the 
sorts which we have yet fallen in with, exhibit 
these qualities combined in so great a degree 
as the variety figured in the accompanying 
plate, which is to bear the distinctive name of 
the Trentham Early Fillbasket Tomato. 
This novelty was raised by Mr. Stevens, 
gardener to his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, 
at Trentham Hall, Staffordshire. The Ameri¬ 
can variety named Criterion is its mother 
parent, and Trophy its male parent, and it has 
combined the fine flavour and bright colour of 
its father with the productiveness of its mother 
in an enhanced degree, while the earliness and 
continuous cropping have been special gains 
resulting from the union. It is a handsome, 
deeply-coloured variety, of a fine crimson hue, 
the fruit being of medium size, and roundish- 
oblate in form, without ribs ; while the plants 
are wonderfully prolific, as they set fruit freely 
at every joint, and come into bearing a 
month earlier than Trophy, owing to its pre¬ 
cocious-flowering and quick-setting character. 
We have had more than one opportunity of 
seeing the plants—whole housefuls of them— 
growing at Trentham during the past season, 
and they presented quite a glowing picture, 
so thickly were the trellises on which they 
were trained hung with the brilliantly-coloured 
fruit. We have also had ample opportunity 
