The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1915-08-12
ORIGIN OF THE TOMATO
Cultivated and Known in Peru
.' ga Centuries Ago. o.

.
Excepting our scientists, there are
comparatively few people In this
country who ever stop to think of
, how many important products that
now minister to the health, susten.
ance, and pleasures of mankind were
added to the worlds supply by the
discovery OF America. A few of
these are incidentally mentioned in
an interesting article on The Toma-
TO-, in the current humber of The
Bulletin OF the Pan.American Union.
by Edward AIbes, who writes:
The greatest febrIfuge known to-
-quinine-came into existence
because the InCas of Peru had dis
covered the medicinal properties OF
the bark Of the Cinchona tree; the
leaves OF the coca plant, South
American product, have served to al
leyiate pain the world over by their
essence-cocaine; Indian corn, or
maize, was unknown to the Old
World before It was found to be the
great food staple OF the Americas;
irish as well as sweet potatoes had
their first home in the New World
the delicious conCOctiOn known as
ChocOlate5 serving man as both food
and drink, had been known for cen
turtles by the lnCas of Peru and the
AZteCs of Mexico before the Span
iards found it in those countries and
introduced it into Europe; tobacco,
whose rings of aromatic smoke now
circumscribe the earth, was added to
mans pleasures by the Indians of
America Many other products
might be enumerated, but among
them all perhaps none ministers
more delightfully."- to the palate of the
modern epicure than does the tomato,
that luscious, succulent, refreshing
Vegetable-fruit which gratifies the
eye with its beauty Of color and form,
stills hunger with its meat, and as
suages thirst with its juice"
The name tomato" seems to be of
Aztec origin, given as tOmatl by some
authorities and as Xitomate by others
and still persists in some few OF the
older Mexican town names such as
Jonathan, TOmatepee, etc, but the
general consensus OF opinion among
botanists seems to be that the plant
and it's culture for edible purposes
originated in Peru, whence it spread
TO other sections of the Americas II
is certain, at any rate, that it was
known and cultivated for its fruit
centuries before he Columbian dis
covery.
That the cultivated tomato was
known to some of the European bota-
nists over $50 years ago is evidenced
by the fact that two large varieties
We're described by Matthiolus as early
as 1854, but for many years 1t was
only In southern Europe that the
value of the fruit for use in soups and
as a salad was recognized. 1t was
quite generally used in Spain and It
ally. during the 18th century, but in
England and in northern Europe gen
orally the plant was grown only in
botanical gardens as a curiosity and
for ornamental purposes. 1t was sell
dom eaten, being commonly regarded
as unhealthy and even poisonous.
This belief probably arose because OF
the close resemblance OF the plant to
its allied relative, the nightshade or
belladonna, and had, of course, no
foundation In fact. II was not until
the early part of the 18th century that
the tomato came into general use as
a food in northern Europe and even
in the United States. Since about
1885, however, the use and cultivation
of the vegetable has grown 10 such an
extent that IL has now become one of
the most important OF our garden
crops
When a successful process OF cam
Mug the fruit was evolved the tomato
industry at once assumed large pro
portions. II was found that for all
cooking purposes the canned fruit
was as good as that fresh from the
vine, and as result the tomato has
become a staple food the year round.
and millions OF dollars are now In
vested in canning factories in the
United States, whose chief output
consists OF tomatoes From statis-
tics compiled by the National Can
Iners' association for the year 1914 It
is learned that among the tomato
producing states. Maryland ranked
Iiifst with a production 81 5,s50000
eases or canned Tomatoes, Delaware
second, with 1881. 900 cases: Indiana
49, af4r f.f.N