52 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 26, 1891. 
WHAT IS THE TOMATO ? 
The future status of this remarkably popular 
product is largely dependent upon the acceptance of 
it as a fruit if also equally accepted as a salad 
vegetable. We may be told that as no man can 
serve two masters, so cannot a Tomato be two diverse 
things. A man can, however, serve two masters 
under certain conditions equally well ; but he cannot 
equally serve God and the devil. Equally a Tomato 
may because of its homogeneous character serve two 
distinctive purposes, but if it be one thing only then 
it cannot be the other. Now those who have dis¬ 
cussed this topic in these columns seem to have 
done so from the narrowest, that is the Exhibition 
point of view. The general public, who constitute 
the chief consumers of Tomatos, however, view the 
topic in a very diverse light. Whilst the gardener 
has been vowing thick and thin that the Tomato is 
and can only be a vegetable, the public have made 
it a cherished edible fruit, and eaten it as a ripe 
fruit uncooked, practically universally. 
It is doubtful whether in the history of the 
development of fruits and vegetables there is to be 
found any case in which a variety or kind has burst 
into popularity with such astonishing force as the 
Tomato has, and that popularity is far more due to 
its acceptance as a ripe edible fruit by the public 
than to any other cause. Why is this ? The fruits 
when ripe are soft, semi-sweet, handsome, richly 
coloured, and are esteemed especially enjoyable by 
all endowed with natural palates. Some of 
our best fruits are too sugary, some too acid, some 
too insipid, some too strong-flavoured. Probably 
the best, most wholesome, and least unduly acid, 
sweet, or strong-flavoured fruit we have is a good 
ripe Apple. The Tomato comes near to it in its 
comparative freedom from strong features of any 
sort. It is soft, mild, and pleasant. 
Had we not throughly dammed its reputation by 
making it appear as a vegetable only it would long 
since have graced our dessert tables. As it is, efforts 
are being made to produce varieties which shall, by 
virtue of their clustering beauty and excellence, win 
their way to the dessert table. A very beautiful 
form for this purpose is Sutton's Golden Nugget—a 
plum-shaped cluster variety, the which it would be 
utterly absurd to class as a vegetable, and merits a 
high place in any fruit collection. But the smaller 
fruits of Perfection, Conference, Golden Gage, and 
many others, are delicious for ordinary eating. I have 
never enjoyed Tomatos in a cooked state with one 
tithe the zest that I have when gathering them from 
the plant and eating them deliciously fresh. 
I am astounded that anyone should write of ripe 
Tomatos as being acid and pungent in taste. There 
is not one half the acidity in Tomatos that there is in 
Gooseberries, Currants, or many Strawberries; there 
is no pungency whatever. Of that element the 
Tomato is peculiarly innocent, whilst it is generally 
far more piquant than are nine-tenths of the Melons 
eaten as fruits. A good Turnip is better than a poor 
Melon, whilst a good ripe Tomato is worth more 
than a thousand of such fruits. Are apples less 
fruits because we make sauce of them, or Pears less 
so because some are excellent, indeed only eatable, 
when stewed. 
Let us look at the matter in a common sense way 
and determine it as sensible people. The fact is the 
Tomato is as much a fruit as an Apple, a Pear, or a 
Melon, and it is as much a vegetable as a Cucumber, 
a Marrow, or the fruit of the Egg Plant. Obviously 
we must allow it to be exhibited in either sections, 
for it is both a fruit and a vegetable without doubt. 
— A.D. 
TREGULLOW. 
The pretty illustration published recently in The 
Garden, together with Mr. Conybeare’s lucid 
observations on the Yews, Conifers, and Rhododen- 
drens at Tregullow, Cornwall, recall happy 
reminiscences of my travelling days. Such speci¬ 
mens, however, are not rare in the fine old gardens 
of the West of England. To most people all that 
country, anciently known as Co'rinia, especially west 
of the Tamar, is a terra incognita so far as gardening 
is concerned, nevertheless the district is quite an 
Eldorado in the rarer kinds of half hardy subjects, 
Mr. Conybeare's neighbourhood being very rich in 
luxuriant specimens. Here the Camellias assume 
the dimensions of trees, and the Desfontainea 
spinosa is a common free flowering shrub; there also 
are the finest trees in the land of Benthamia 
fragifera, as well as a famous specimen of 
Sciadopitys verticillata, whilst the Azalea indica is 
hardy in many of the deep, calm, sleepy dells. 
In addition to the above I have noted some of the 
most noteworthy plants, which, when planted in 
favourable positions, thrive in the open air in those 
parts, as follows : — Agaves, Aloysia citriodora, 
Aponogeton distachyon, Azara microphylla, 
Berberidopsis corallina, Buddleia globosa, Chamae- 
rops humilis, Choisya ternata, Clianthus puniceus, 
Colletia cruciata, Daphne indica, Diplopappus 
chrysophylla, Dracaena indivisa, Elaeagnus japoni- 
cus, Embothrium coccineum, Eriobotrya japonica, 
Escallonias, Erythrina crista galli, Eulalia japonica, 
Eugenia Ugni, EurybiaGunniana, Fabiana imbricata, 
Griselinia littoralis, Hedychium Gardnerianum, 
Lapageria rosea, Lardizabala biternata, Leycesteria 
formosa, Magnolias Metrosideros floribunda, 
Mitraria coccinea, Myrtles, Olearia Haastii, Orange 
trees, Ozothamnus rosmarinifolius, Philesia buxifolia, 
Photinia serrulata, Phormiums, Pittosporums, 
Swammerdamia Antennaria, Tropaeolum tuberosum, 
Veronicas, &c.— W. Napper, Chelsea. 
_ - ♦ - _ 
— *. - 
THE BON CHRETIEN 
PEAR. 
Our most popular Pear is Williams' Bon Chretien. 
Ask a Londoner what is his ideal of a good Pear, 
and he will at once say Bon Chretien. No Pear is 
so largely hawked about the streets of London as 
this. It is largely grown in the numerous fruit 
gardens which form a fringe to suburban London; 
and enormous quantities of it come into the 
Metropolis, and this season more than for years 
past. It is an uncertain bearer — that is the worst of 
it. But then who would not grow it. As a melting 
pear, rich, buttery, juicy, it is perhaps without a 
rival. But it will not keep any length of time; it 
mellows rapidly and soon decays. It should be 
gathered before it begins to turn yellow, and then it 
will keep for a few days. But several of our best 
early Pears will not keep very long. 
To show the popularity of this well-known Pear and 
the high estimation in which it is held generally, if any¬ 
one will turn up the report of the Pear Congress held at 
Chiswick in 1885, they will find that in the various 
tables of lists of varieties selected by the exhibitors 
as best suited for cultivation, arranged in the 
order of selection, Bon Chretien stands at the head 
of the September Pears in almost every case. In 
the return made from Scotland it comes into the July 
and August, as well as into the September Pears. 
In the poll taken for the whole of Great Britain, it 
came third ; Marie Louise coming first, and Louise 
Bonne df Jersey second. In the selection for 
orchard culture it heads the poll, being selected fifty 
times. In the case of the Scotch Apple and Pear 
Congress, held also in 1885, Bon Chretien stands 
fourth in the list of the best thirty dessert Pears ; 
second in the list of the best thirty for bushes ; and 
also in the list for the best twenty for Orchards. In 
the last case the popular Hessle—the Hazel Pear of 
the London fruit growers—heads the list by a large 
majority. This variety takes its name from the 
village of Hessle, in Yorkshire, where it is said to 
have been first discovered. 
Dr. Hogg, in his Fruit Manual, gives us an interes¬ 
ting history of our popular Bon Chretien Pear. He 
states that, “ This esteemed Pear was raised a short 
time previous to 1770 by a person of the name of 
Wheeler, a schoolmaster at Aldermasten, in Berk¬ 
shire, from where it was obtained by Williams, the 
nurseryman of Turnham Green, Middlesex, and 
being by him first distributed it received the name it 
now bears. In 1799 it was introduced to America by 
Mr. Enoch Bartlett, of Dorchester, near Boston, 
through whom it became generally distributed, and 
has ever since been known by the name of the Bart¬ 
lett Pear. There it attains the highest perfection, 
and is esteemed the finest Pear of the season.” 
As far as can be ascertained it would appear the 
cultivation of the Pear in this country did not begin 
as soon as that of the Apple. It is also held that 
the Pear is less hardy than the Apple, and 
cannot accommodate itself so readily to varied soils. 
The uses of the fruit are also less multiform, and 
very few of the sorts allow of being kept through 
the winter. Mr. Leo Grindon tells us that seedling 
Pears take a much longer time to become fruitful 
than seedling Apples. “They require," it is said, 
“ fifteen to eighteen years.” This being so, it is the 
work of a lifetime to raise seedling Pears, requiring 
as much patience as that of seedling Tulips. But, 
as Mr. Grindon further remarks, this may be con¬ 
nected in some degree with the long lease of life, the 
duration of the Pear being equal to that of many 
timber trees.— R. D. 
WHAT IS A HARDY 
PERENNIAL ? 
The word perennial simply means lasting through 
the year; but when used in a botanical sense it 
means lasting more than two years, in contradistinc¬ 
tion to annual and biennial, lasting one and two years 
respectively. Now, it follows that a perennial plant 
may mean anything of more than two years’ duration, 
whether herb, shrub or tree. Further there are all 
degrees of hardiness, so that the question becomes 
very complicated. Your correspondent Mr. J.Kipling, 
p. 17, is quite correct when speaking of Hydrangea 
paniculata grandiflora as hardy in the south after 
such a severe and protracted winter as the past, but 
whether it is hardy in the north of Scotland is 
another question. It has been known to some south¬ 
ern growers as a hardy plant for many years past, 
while the majority of gardeners probably know it 
only as a pot plant for conservatory decoration. 
There seems a want of enterprise amongst gardeners 
of the present day, to test the hardiness of favourite 
plants, otherwise the true nature of this Hydrangea 
would have been well known over the length and 
breadth of the land, since its introduction dates back 
to 1874. It is perfectly admissible in garden bor¬ 
ders, because it associates well with the usual occu¬ 
pants of that part of the garden, and is occasionally 
so grown. I perfectly agree with the judges, however, 
for disqualifying it in a stand meant for herbaceous 
perennials. 
The garden Hydrangea (H. hortensis) is not strictly 
hardy even so far north and inland as London, 
although it may be considered so along the west 
and south coasts of England, where it flowers to per¬ 
fection in the open garden every year. Exhibitors 
from those parts might show it in London, Liverpool, 
Manchester, or elsewhere, and affirm it to be hard)'. 
The compilers of schedules, if they w ish to limit the 
term hardy to the behaviour of plants in their own 
locality, should say so ; and if judges from a distance 
were employed they might be empowered to ask the 
advice of a good local referee in case of any dispute 
as to a point of hardiness. 
When hardy herbaceous perennials are meant, it 
should so be stated in the schedule, and there could 
be no dispute as to the inadmissibility of Hydrangeas, 
for they are clearly shrubs. Some judges object to 
Lilies in an exhibit of herbaceous plants, on the 
ground that they are bulbous plants, while others 
admit Daffodils and Fritillarias; but all bulbous 
plants are as clearly herbaceous as the Meadow-sweet 
(Spiraea Ulmaria). Hardy border flowers as a limit¬ 
ing term is not sufficient to define what is usually 
meant by the framers of schedules; because the Mou- 
tan Paeony (Paeonia Moutan), Polygala Chamaebuxus, 
Lavender (Lavandula vera), species of Thyme, and 
many others are often grown in herbaceous borders, 
yet they are truly shrubs. A herbaceous plant is often 
described as one which dies down annually to the roots ; 
but many truly herbaceous plants are strictly ever¬ 
green, including species of Arabis, Aubrietia, Candy¬ 
tuft, Saxifraga, Sedum, Helleborus niger, Achillea 
tomentosa, A. umbellata, Alyssum, Armeria, Arenaria, 
Dianthus, Wallflower, Cerastium, and others too 
numerous to mention. 
What then is a herbaceous plant ? some may feel 
inclined to ask. The term herbaceous includes all 
plants whose tissues are too soft to come under the 
term of woody. In other words the stems of her¬ 
baceous plants contain a relatively small amount of 
woody matter, or it may be no lignified tissue at all. 
Nature places no exact limit between the two classes, 
herbaceous and w r oody plants, for there is every 
degree of gradation between the one and the other. 
For instance the wallflower in a wild state has stems 
of a truly woody character. This, however, need 
not trouble the framers of schedules; and when de¬ 
fining what they w'ant, it would meet the case to say 
“ hardy herbaceous perennials,” limiting the term if 
they so desire by adding the words “exclusive of 
bulbous plants," “ alpines,” or otherwise, as the case 
may be. Exhibits coming within the meaning of 
those words should not be disqualified, and it 
would then rest with the judges to determine which 
was the best or mosj appropriate exhibit.— Tax\t$, ■ 
