The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-07
TOMATO APPETITE
 A ROMANCE OF
 THE DINING TABLE E
-'Love Apple" Once Thought Poisonous, Now Uni
 versally Used

The growth of the tomato appetite in the United States and in many of the other countries of the world is one of the romances of the dining table, and the development of the tomato raising, shipping and packing indus try is one of the marvels Of the work a-day world. Up to $50, the tomato was not used as food in the United States. It was known as the Hove apple, thought to be poisonous, and was grown only as an ornamental plant but today it is a vegetable of un1ver- sal popularity, and among the leading commercial crops. Although a few Americans found, about 1840, that the tomato was not poisonous, and that II was palatable raw or cooked, 1t did not rapidly come into popularity. It was after /the close of the American Civil War that it began to come into the esteem of many thousands of Americans and seemed to set out upon its campaign of conquest, which would put it in one form or another, upon nearly every dinner table in the land, both in winter and summer.
 The tomatoes of the days of ones great-grandmother were very small,
 dpOuI llkc u CuCIIyp HI AnSe. OAAo OA the old varieties was called the cherry or currant tomato, the little red globes growing in clusters and forming very handsome plants for the yard or flow- CT garden It was highly thought of as a garden ornament but the thought that the red fruits might be good to eat and that they could be developed into the size of large pears and apples was very slow in coming into mems minds.
 The tomato is of South American origin, and is described as "a weak stemmed, trailing annual with jagged leaves, resembling the potato in its general aspect" Botanists call the plant "Lycoperiscum esculantum." Ii is a member of the Solanaceae or family, one of the members of which
 family is belladonna. or the deadly nightshade, Europeon herb, long
 known-to the medical world as a pois- onous plant, but useful in pharmacy. The white potato, Solantum escu- lantum, and many of the peppers are among the Solonaceae or members o1 the Solanum family. It is a large
 family, and in works on botany one may read that this order of plants embraces no less than five tribes, 7f genera. and ,750 species, found in all
 warm countries, particularly Amer ica."
 An immense amount of experiment. ation has been given to the tomato
 plant for the purpose of improving the bearing capacity and size, shape
 flavor and solidity of the fruit. The list of the names of varieties would be
 very long one, even if they were col
 lected, and the number of commercial varieties being cultivated today would
 be surprising to any one who has only | the usual information about the to- mato. It might be set down as a fact that new varieties are brought to the attention of growers every season. AT authority on the culture of tomatoes
 has said that "in sections where the arinfall is small some tomato growers do not prune vines. They say that while pruning is all right in localities
 where there is plenty of moisture, 1r
 more arid regions it is best not tc
 prune. Tomatoes should contain about | 95 per cent. of water, and to make
 proper growth and development good rains or good artificial watering every 1 10 or 12 days is essential The culttva- ton of tomatoes should be, according
 to tris authority, about the same as
 that given corn. beans or okra; ire
 quent light stirring of the surface soi
 without disturbing the roots.'
 l Naturally the methods of growing
 tomatoes have changed and improved
 though the new methods call for more
 work than did the old style of rais. | ing them. Expert and thrifty grow. CTS now stake" the plants and tit
 them lightly but strongly to their sup
 ports. Some successful growers trair
 them to grow on trellises of differen patterns and height and it is quit' common to find tomato plants climb line-poles as Aoll -oz bean poles- ans