The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1915-08-05
Origin Of The Tomato.

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 Tomato"
in the current number of The Bulle-
tin of the Pan-American Union, by
Edward Albes. who writes:
THE greatest febrifuge known
today-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, a South
American product, have served to
alleviate 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 we'll as sweet potatoes had their
first home in the New World. The
delicious concoction known as choco-
late, serving man as both food and
drink, had been known for centuries
by the Incas of Peru and the Aztecs
of Mexico before the SpaniarGs
found it in these countries and in
troduced 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, re-
freshing vegetable-fruit, which graf
ifes the eye with its beauty Of color
and form, stills hunger with its
meat, and thirst with its juice.
The name tomato" seems to be
of Aztec origin, given as tornatl by
some authorities, and as xtomate
by others, and stifl persists in
some few Of the older Mexican town
names, such as Tomatan, Tomatepec,.
etc, but the general consensus Of
opinion among botanists seems to be
that the plant and its culture for
edible purposes originated in Peru,
whence it spread to other sections of
the Americas. 1t is certain, at any
rate, that it was known and culti
waited for its fruit centuries before
the Columbian discovery.
That the cultivated tomato was
known to some of the European bot
anists over $50 years ago is evidenc-
ed by the fact that two large varie-
ties were described by Matthiolus as
early as 1854, but for many years it
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 Italy during the 18th century,
| but in England and in Northern
Europe generally the plant was
grown only in botanical gardens as
curiosity and for ornamental pur-
poses. 1t was seldom eaten. being
commonly regarded as unhealthy
and even poisonous. This belief
probably arose because Of the close
resemblance to the plant of its allied
relative, the nightshade, or bella
donna, and had, of course, no foun-
dation in fact. Not until the early
part of the 10Th century did the to-
mato come into general use as food
in Northern Europe and the United
States. Since about 1885, however,
the use and cultivation of the veg
etable has grown to such an extent
that it has now become one of the
most important of our garden crops.
When a successful process of can
ming the fruit was evolved the to-
mato industry at once assumed large
proportions. 1t 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 staple food the year
round, and millions of dollars are
now invested in canning factories in
the United States, whose chief out
put consists of tomatoes. From sta
tistics compiled by the National Can
ners' Association for the year 1914,
it is learned that among the tomato
producing States Maryland ranked
first, with production of 5.850,O0O
cases of canned tomatoes; Delaware
second, with 1886, 900 cases; Indiana
third, with 1895, 900 cases. The
total production for the whole coun-
try amounted to Is, ,222, 600 cases of
tomatoes and about 100000 cases
of tomato pulp, used in making
,otc,,o souooo oo,,pc orr Tho total