Evening star., 1937-04-17
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
RY THOMAH HENPY
BY THOMAS X. HENRY.

One Of the most remarkable episodes
III the history OF American agriculture
is the tomato.
The Cinderellalike story of this vege-
table is stressed by the Department Of
Agriculture with the introduction this
Fall of three new varieties developed
by the Bureau of Plant Industry, which
are described as constituting notable
advance over any hitherto known. A
century ago the tomato was one of the
least valued plants in the kitchen gar
den. Today it covers 500 900 acres an
nually, produces a crop OF $4,000, 900
bushels of fresh tomatoes and more than
100000 tons of canned fruit and provides
farmers with an annual income esu-
mated at close to $4,000 900.
This success story-the Department Of
Agriculture calls the tomato "the prodigy
of the vegetable worlds due in large
part to the discovery OF vitamins. It
contains Vtamins A, B and c in palat-
able form. It also owes something to the
increasing popularity Of that typical
American dish, the salad. Used as food
for little more than century. it now is
almost as widely distributed as wheat, a
food plant, which has been cultivated
for at least 5000 years. There are now
more than $50 known varieties, adapted
to all sorts of purposes
The development, although it got its
start abroad, has been largely American.
Americans were the first to develop a
real taste for tomatoes and to recognize
the possibilities Of the crop to agricul-
ture. The story represents triumph
not only for American plant breeders,
but for American industrial methods,
which have turned highly perishable
product into one Of the staples Of the
grocery store, available in hmitless
quantities at all seasons.
The tomato is native Of Western
South America but it appears hrst to
have been used as food by the Aztecs.
It was introduced into Spain early in the
sixteenth century and hundred years
later was widely grown in England as an
ornamental plant. Not until the next
century, however, did it have any stand
ing as a food plant. 1t was known as
the love apple" and the popular idea
was that it was mildly poisonous. Folks
ate one now and then on "dares. Then
1t caught on as food in Italy and by the
start of the eighteenth century was being
grown on field scale.
So far as known it was absent from
the gardens of Colonial America, unless
as rare ornamental plant. Not until
the beginning Of the nineteenth century
was it reintroduced to It's native Western
Hemisphere as a food crop For long
time it acquired no great popularity. A
few vines in the family garden were con-
sidered enough, since there was no to-
mato market.
Shortly after the Civil War a few
private plant breeders became interested
in it and gradually introduced better
and better varieties. These led to an
increased demand and brought about so
many new problems that the breeding
work was taken over largely by the De-
partment Of Agriculture. Especially i'm
portant was increased disease resistance.
With tomatoes grown on a large scale,
the booming agricultural industry was
threatened by susceptibility Of the plants
to various fungi and to the attacks Of in
sects. In the past the objective had
been the production of large, smooth
fruit of high quality. Now the breeders
were confronted with such factors as
resistance to heat and cold and adapt
ability to distance shipping.
The work was taken up in 1915 by the
late J. F. Pritchard, plant breeder of the
Bureau of Plant Industry. He kept at
it continuously for 16 years until his
death in 1881, largely in cooperation
with the University Of Maryland expert
ment station. To Pritchard the great
tomato industry OF today owes more
than to any other single man. It 1925
he introduced the .A6ArRiob0 tomato.