The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-09-17
ROMANCE OF THE TOMATO
Mexican Indians Cultivated it Before
Columbus Came-From a Feared
Rarity it has Become one of
the Best Known Foods in
the World.
Edward Albes in the Bulletin of
the Pan-American Union.)

How much the discovery of
America added to the welfare and
comfort of the civilized world is real
lied by comparatively few even of the
millions of people who inhabit the
continent and island known as the
New World.
The greatest febrifuge known today
-quinine-came into existence be-
cause the Incas of Peru had discover
ed the medicinal properties of the
bark of the chinchona tree. The
leaves of the coca plant have served
to alleviate pain by their essence
cocaine. Indian corn, Irish and
sweet potatoes and chocolate all had
their home in America.
There is no doubt that the tomato
is indigenous to America Exactly
where it originated is a mooted ques-
ton. The names seems to be of Aztec
origin, given by some as "tomat" and
by others as "xitomate." The world
still exists in the names of Mexican
towns such as Jonathan, Tomatepec,
etc. Humboldt states that the plant
was cultivated for its fruit by the
Mexican natives long before the
Spanish conquest, while Alfonso de
Candolle, in his Origin of Cultivated
Plants" arrives at the conclusion that
its culture for edible purposes origin
ated in Peru and thus spread to other
sections of the Americas.
At any rate, it had been known and
cultivated extensively in these coun-
tries for centuries before the Column
bian discovery, and there is little
doubt that many of the plants seen
and described by the European in
vaders as wild species were really Gull
tivated varities originated by the In
dams by crossing of selected species.
The Old Love Apple"
That the cultivated tomato was
known to European botanists over 800
years ago is evidenced by the fact that
Mattiolus described two varities, one
a large yellow one called Golden
was known as Love Apple" in 1854
= In 1900 Tournefort described a large
smooth variety which closely rcsemb-
les the "Livingston's Stone" of today,
and a careful study of old descriptions
and cuts, compared with the best ex-
amples of modern varieties, would in
dictate that tomatoes as large and
smooth as those we now grow had
been developed before they came in
to general use in the United States
and before the fruit was generally
known to Europeans.
Throughout Southern Europe the
value of the fruit for use in soups
and as a salad seems to have been re-
cognized at an early date. 1t was quite
generally used in Spain and Italy
during the Seventeenth Century. In
England and in Northern Europe gen.
orally the plant was grown in bota-
ical gardens and in few private
places as a curiosity and for ornamen-
tai purposes. 1t was seldom eaten,
being commonly regarded as un-
healthy and even poisonous, its fruit
being supposed to have aphrodisacal
qualities. This belief probably arose
from the close resemblance of the
plant to the nightshade, or bella
donna.
Now a Common Food.
1t was not until the early part of
the Nineteenth Century that the to-
mato came into general use as food
in Northern Europe and even in the
grown as early as 1881 for culinary
use, but the efforts of a Frenchman
to introduce it in Philadelphia as an
edible product in 1888 were unsuccess-
full. The first record of the fruit being
regularly quoted in an American mar
ket was in New Orleans in 1872, while
the earliest records of the seed being
offered for sale by seedsmen as those
of an edible vegetable was in 1918.
From about 1885, however. the use
and cultivation of the tomato increas-
ed constantly until now it has be-
come one of the most largely grown
of all our garden vegetables.
The tomato is of tropical origin and
its culture has spread to practically
all of the Latin American countries.
Only in few Of them, however, has
the industry developed to such an ex-
tent as to make the tomato an ex-
portable product. Cuba is exception
ally we'll adapted to its growth, and
in certain sections, such as the Guines