History
The garden vegetable known in this country as tomato and generally as
tomate in continental Europe, is also known as Wolf-peach and Love Apple
in England and America, and Liebesapfel in Germany, Pomme d'Amour in
France, Pomo d'oro in Italy, Pomidor in Poland.
=Origin of name.=--The name tomato is of South American origin, and is
derived from the Aztec word _xitomate_, or _zitotomate_, which is given
the fruit of both the Common tomato and that of the Husk or Strawberry
tomato or Physalis. Both vegetables were highly prized and extensively
cultivated by the natives long before the discovery of the country by
Europeans, and there is little doubt that many of the plants first seen
and described by Europeans as wild species were really garden varieties
originated with the native Americans by the variation or crossing of the
original wild species.
=Different types now common=, according to Sturtevant, have become known
to, and been described by Europeans in about the following order:
1. Large yellow, described by Matthiolus in 1554 and called
Golden apple.
2. Large red, described by Matthiolus in 1554 and called Love
apple.
3. Purple red, described by D'el Obel in 1570.
4. White-fleshed, described by Dodoens in 1586.
5. Red cherry, described by Bauhin in 1620.
6. Yellow cherry, described by Bauhin in 1620.
7. Ochre yellow, described by Bauhin in 1651.
8. Striped, blotched or visi-colored, described by Bauhin in
1651.
9. Pale red, described by Tournefort in 1700.
10. Large smooth, or ribless red, described by Tournefort in
1700.
11. Bronzed-leaved, described by Blacknell in 1750.
12. Deep orange, described by Bryant in 1783.
13. Pear-shaped, described by Dunal in 1805.
14. Tree tomato, described by Vilmorin in 1855.
15. Broad-leaved, introduced about 1860.
The special description of No. 10 by Tournefort in 1700 would indicate
that large smooth sorts, like Livingston's Stone, were in existence
fully 200 years ago, instead of being modern improvements, as is
sometimes claimed; and a careful study of old descriptions and cuts and
comparing them with the best examples of modern varieties led Doctor
Sturtevant in 1889 to express the opinion that they had fruit as large
and smooth as those we now grow, before the tomato came into general use
in America, and possibly before the fruit was generally known to
Europeans. Even the production of fine fruit under glass is not so
modern as many suppose. In transactions of the London Horticultural
Society for 1820, John Wilmot is reported to have cultivated under glass
in 1818 some 600 plants and gathered from his entire plantings under
glass and in borders some 130 bushels of ripe fruit. It is stated that
the growth that year exceeded the demand, and that the fruit obtained
was of extraordinary size, some exceeding 12 inches in circumference and
weighing 12 ounces each. Thomas Meehan states in _Gardeners' Monthly_
for February, 1880, that on January 8, of that year, he saw growing in
the greenhouses on Senator Cannon's place near Harrisburg, Pa., at
least 1 bushel of ripe fruits, none of which were less than 10 inches in
circumference,--a showing which compares with the best to be seen
to-day.
Throughout southern Europe the value of the fruit for use in soups and
as a salad seems to have been at once recognized, and it came into quite
general use, especially in Spain and Italy, during the 17th century; but
in northern Europe and England, though the plant was grown in botanical
gardens and in a few private places as a curiosity and for the beauty of
its fruit, this was seldom eaten, being commonly regarded as unhealthy
and even poisonous, and on this account, and probably because of its
supposed aphrodisiacal qualities, it did not come into general use in
those northern countries until early in the 19th century.
=First mention= in America, I find of its being grown for culinary use,
was in Virginia in 1781. In 1788 a Frenchman in Philadelphia made most
earnest efforts to get people to use the fruit, but with little success,
and similar efforts by an Italian in Salem, Mass., in 1802, were no more
successful. The first record I can find of the fruit being regularly
quoted in the market was in New Orleans in 1812, and the earliest
records I have been able to find of the seed being offered by seedsmen,
as that of an edible vegetable, was by Gardener and Hipburn in 1818, and
by Landreth in 1820. Buist's "Kitchen Gardener" says: "In 1828-9 it (the
tomato) was almost detested and commonly considered poisonous. Ten years
later every variety of pill and panacea was 'extract of tomatoes,' and
now (1847) almost as much ground is devoted to its culture as to the
cabbage." In 1834 Professor Dunglison, of the University of Virginia,
said: "The tomato may be looked upon as one of the most wholesome and
valuable esculents of the garden."
Yet, though the fruit has always received similar commendation from
medical men, there has been constant recurring superstition that it is
unhealthy. Only a few years ago there was in general circulation a
statement that an eminent physician had discovered that eating tomatoes
tended to develop cancer. This has been definitely traced to the playful
question, asked as a joke by Dr. Dio Lewis, "Didn't you know that eating
bright red tomatoes caused cancer?" In more recent years an equally
unfounded claim has been made that tomato seeds were responsible for
many cases of appendicitis and that it was consequently dangerous to eat
the fruit.
I give some quotations for tomatoes in Quincy Hall Market, Boston, with
some for other vegetables, for comparison. The records show that during
the week ending July 22, 1835, tomatoes were quoted at 50 cents per
dozen, cabbage at 50 cents per dozen. For the week ending September 22,
1835, tomatoes were quoted at 25 cents per peck, lima beans, 12-1/2
cents per quart shelled, with comment that tomatoes are in much demand
and a far greater quantity has been sold than in previous years. During
the week ending July 22, 1837, tomatoes were quoted at 25 and 50 cents
per peck, and the note that they are of good size and were well ripened
and came from gardens in the vicinity would indicate that they had at
that time early maturing varieties and knew how to grow them. From about
1835 till the present time the cultivation and use of tomatoes have
constantly increased both in this country and in Europe, so that now
they are one of the most largely grown of our garden vegetables.
A suggestion as to the extent they are now grown in America is the fact
that a single seed grower saved in 1903 over 20,000 pounds of tomato
seed--an amount sufficient to furnish plants for from 80,000 to 320,000
acres, according to the care used in raising them, the larger quantity
not requiring more care than the best growers commonly use. A careful
estimate made by the _American Grocer_ shows that in 1903 the packing of
tomatoes by canners in the United States amounted to 246,775,426
three-pound cans. In addition to the canned tomato, between 200,000 and
250,000 barrels of catsup stock is put up annually, requiring the
product of at least 20,000 acres.
It is probable that the area required to produce the fruit that is used
fresh at least equals that devoted to the production for preserving,
which give us from 400,000 to 500,000 acres devoted to this crop each
year in America alone. The fruit is perhaps in more general use in
America than elsewhere, but its cultivation and use have increased
rapidly in other countries, particularly with the English speaking
races. Large quantities are grown in Australia, and immense and
constantly increasing quantities are grown under glass in England and
adjacent islands, while _The Gardeners' Chronicle_ states that in 1903
between 600,000 and 800,000 pounds of fresh fruit were imported into
England from other countries.