I was really so into digging into old seed catalogs and searching for old varieties on the USDA GRIN database. It was so much fun that I requested many old tomatoes that I never even found in the old catalogs. Here is the first major report out of how they performed.
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1994 Tomato Harvest Report - Assessing the USDA Accessions
by Craig
When I look into my garden, I see a typical January sight for North Carolina. There is no snow, of course, and there are the frost-bitten, blackened remains of pepper plants, adorned with the brightly colored, dried ghosts of their fruits. There are piles of grass clippings and leaves, and even a couple of stakes where vigorous tomato plants used to stand. If I look really hard, I can visualize what things may look like this summer. Even more distinctly, I can recall all of the activity that occurred there in the summer of 1994, including over 100 varieties of tomatoes. Among all of those tomatoes were a large number of varieties that were obtained from the USDA germ plasm collection, many of which are historically significant, and presumed to be extinct.
This article describes the results from this fascinating growout. As a person who was attracted to the Seed Saver's Exchange in large part due to the possibility of finding and growing old commercially produced tomatoes, I was humbled by the experience, and consider last year's garden to be the most memorable of my summer's efforts to date. It was remarkable to be able to look at old seed catalogs, such as the 1900 Livingston that I have in my collection, then to step into my garden and see many of these historic varieties "in the fruit"! We haven't found them all, and not all of them appear to have made their trek through the years unchanged, but it was rewarding nonetheless.
Just a note regarding the condition of the seed we received from the USDA. In general, we were delighted to find that most of the varieties germinated quickly. As Murphy would predict, it seemed as though the varieties that we most wanted to grow out were the most stubborn to germinate. But, when all was said and done, we had at least one plant of each of the varieties that we wanted to grow.
What follows are one by one listings of the varieties, along with the history, if known, and descriptions as observed in my garden. Carolyn grew these in her New York gardens also, and any differences that we observed will be mentioned, as well as discrepancies from the old tomato literature. All varieties are indeterminate unless otherwise stated.
Livingston Introductions:
Beauty: Introduced in 1886, and considered by Livingston to be one of his finest releases. It appears that the original selection was from a field of Paragon. This was used most commonly as a shipping variety, as when picked green it traveled in good condition and shelf ripened well. This was one of the stubborn germinators, and I had the lone success in my garden. Despite an awful start (the plant was on its deathbed for quite awhile), it recovered gamely and was quite vigorous and productive. The fruits were medium sized (6-8 ounces), slightly oblate and smooth, with no green shoulders or preference to crack. The ripe color was medium pink, and the flavor was very good - juicy, with a good balance of sweetness and tartness. In terms of matching the catalog description, this was pretty much right on the money.
Livingston's Main Crop Pink: We don't have any historical information on this variety, but have assumed from its name that it belongs in this section. With very vigorous growth, this was one of the more productive types, and is a fine tomato. The slightly oblate fruits were smooth and pink, perhaps a bit larger and more crack prone than Beauty, but otherwise similar, in flavor as well.
Golden Queen: This was touted as the best yellow tomato in the early 1900's, having been introduced in 1882. According to Livingston, this was derived from selections of plants that he grew from seeds obtained from a tomato that was displayed at a county fair. The plant is vigorous and moderately productive, and the fruits variable in size, from 4 ounces to over 1 pound. It is one of the most beautiful tomatoes I've seen, being bright yellow with a pale pink blush at the blossom end. The flavor was very nice, again with a good balance of sweet and tart, and not having the blandness or unusual flavors occasionally associated with many of the yellow or orange tomatoes. Once again, this tomato seemed to perform up to the descriptions in the old seed catalogs.
Magnus: This was the most difficult variety to germinate, but Carolyn struck it rich with 2 plants (she sent me one via mail!). This was the cover variety for the 1900 Livingston seed catalog, and it seemed to grow true to type. It is unusual in being a potato leaf variety that does not afford huge fruits. The vigor is good, and the tomatoes are nearly globe shaped, very smooth, 4-8 ounces and medium pink, with a good flavor. This one will get another chance next year, as its position in the garden was not the best.
Favorite: This tomato, developed in 1883 from a selection of a plant growing in a field of the variety Paragon, was another star performer in the garden. It was originally bred for canners at that time. Vigorous, prolific and delicious, the fruits were 6-8 ounces, very smooth oblate, and rich scarlet, and the tomato had a real old fashioned, tart flavor. It's performance seemed to match that of the catalog description.
Paragon: One of the true hall of fame varieties, this was released in 1870 as the first smooth red tomato. It was with this variety that Livingston started the, at the time, new and radical method for developing new tomato varieties. Rather than select particular fruits from plants to save seed from, he studied large fields of plants and selected tomatoes from a particular superior plant in that field. Livingston surveyed his tomato gardens, and found one plant that had very smooth, though relatively small, tomatoes. From seed saved from tomatoes from that plant, he grew a large number of plants each succeeding year, selecting for smoothness and larger size. By 1870, he had Paragon, which at that time was the first smooth, large, scarlet tomato. The weather was not kind to it this year, as it was the variety most likely to get blossom end rot. It was vigorous and productive, and those fruits that I did get were in the 8 ounce range, oblate and scarlet, but the jury is out on this one.
Acme: This is one of the varieties that obviously has been crossed over the years. It was released in 1875 as the first smooth, large, early pink tomato (though in the early literature, this color was often referred to as purple). Livingston used the same method to "breed" Acme as he did Paragon; namely, selection of outstanding plants from fields of roughly shaped pink tomatoes. The accession that we grew out was vigorous, productive and gave medium to large oblate to flat scarlet fruit of good flavor. It is a good tomato, but not what we hoped for.
Dwarf Stone: Carolyn grew this one out, and it is her description that follows. This tomato was introduced in 1902 as a Stone-type tomato on a dwarf plant. What Carolyn found was true to the description, being an attractive, stocky, short plant with dark green, rugose foliage, bearing medium sized scarlet tomatoes of good flavor but mushy consistency.
Lutescent: I am making an assumption with this variety, based upon information gleaned in the conversation with Dr. Charlie Rick. In 1897 Livingston released an unusual tomato named Honor Bright. It appeared as a mutant or sport growing in a field of the variety Stone, which is a medium sized scarlet tomato released in 1891, and still widely grown today. Honor Bright was described as distinct for its pale green (almost yellow) foliage and tomatoes that went through several color changes on their way to scarlet. This is exactly what we see with Lutescent, as it is one of the weirder tomatoes that can be grown. As a seedling, the foliage seems to want to turn yellow. In the garden, it is actually yellow toward the bottom of the plant. The flowers are nearly white, and the small to medium, globe shaped, firm fruits turn from pale green to snow white, to yellow orange, finally to deep scarlet as they ripen. The variety is very productive, and the taste is surprisingly good for such a firm tomato.
Other Heirloom Commercial Varieties:
Alpha: A relatively short growing potato leaf type that has small to medium sized, crack prone, green shouldered scarlet fruit of good, but not outstanding, flavor. It was introduced in 1882, and is considered to be similar to Earliana.
Essex Wonder: This is obviously not the Essex listed in the Michigan State Bulletin of 1938, as it produced small to medium scarlet, not pink, tomatoes. It is an average tomato in all respects, and is most probably an old English commercial variety.
Early Ruby: Described in the Livingston 1900 catalog as a new, scarlet early type, and probably a synonym for Atlantic Prize, released by Ferry in 1891. It is a rather non-descript, medium sized scarlet tomato of no outstanding characteristics.
Excelsior: This is probably a synonym for Earliana, which was released in 1900. Again, nothing special here, as it is another medium sized average tasting scarlet tomato.
Landreth: Listed as a synonym for Bonny Best, which was released in 1908, and resulted from a selection from Chalk's Early Jewel. It is a medium sized scarlet tomato, but has a nice tart full flavor.
Early Large Red: From the name, you can tell that this is an old one, and first showed up in seed catalogs in the 1860's. We found the variety to be a typically non-descript, medium sized, oblate scarlet tomato that had good flavor.
Triumph: Released in 1879, this tomato is another of the small to medium sized, slightly oblate scarlet slicers of average attributes.
Optimus: This variety was released by Ferry in 1885, and was derived from a tomato sent to them by a customer. It is similar to Favorite and Stone, and we found it to be a vigorous, productive plant giving medium sized, oblate, scarlet fruit of very good flavor.
Green Gage: First listed in U. S. seed catalogs in 1879, but probably much older, this variety yielded nice tasting small yellow plum shaped tomatoes.
Redfield Beauty: This variety grew very similarly to Beauty, described above, and is likely a different seed company's strain of the same. It performed very well for us.
Buckbee's Beefsteak: Released in the early 1900's by Buckbee, this was a typical scarlet beefsteak type; large, vigorous plant, medium to huge, irregularly shaped fruit with some cat facing and cracking, and good rich flavor.
Dixie Golden Giant: Reputedly an old southern variety, this one has been on the "missing" list for some time. Growing on a very vigorous plant, the tomatoes, though not numerous, were very large, slightly oblate, and of a golden color, and the flavor was quite rich and sweet.
Alpha Pink: Supposedly similar to June Pink, this variety, released in 1915 by Isbell, produced delicious, medium sized pink tomatoes on a relatively small plant. The yield was quite early, and relatively heavy, and it is in all quite a good tomato.
Trophy: This is considered to be the first smooth, large tomato. It was developed by Dr. Hand in Baltimore by crossing an old large crumpled red tomato with a variety called Early Smooth Red. When introduced in 1870, the seeds were sold for $5.00 for a packet of 20 seeds! Our experience with the variety was of a vigorous, productive plant yielding medium to large, flat to oblate scarlet fruit of a rich, full, acid flavor.
Mikado: Also known as Turner's Hybrid, this variety was developed and released by Henderson in 1889. It is described as a large, smooth pink tomato on a potato leaf foliaged plant. From the USDA seed samples, we obtained both potato leaf and regular leaf plants, but all gave large, irregularly shaped scarlet fruit, indicating that crossing has occurred through the years in this variety.
Abraham Lincoln: An important release of Buckbee in 1923, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding this tomato of late. The Shumway catalog description is of a late, large (1 pound plus) tomato growing on a bronze foliaged plant. This accession from the USDA is the first that I have grown that at least gets the fruit correct; the plant does not have bronze foliage, however. The fruits were nearly globe shaped, large, scarlet and delicious.
King Humbert: A very old European variety listed in Fearing Burr, this is reportedly similar to San Marzano. Carolyn found it to be a vigorous scarlet paste tomato that matches the description in Burr's book.
Alice Roosevelt: Reportedly a synonym for Earliana, Carolyn found this variety to produce medium sized scarlet fruit of little excitement.
Mikado Scarlet: Not much is known about this one, except that it is a scarlet, smaller version of Mikado released by an Italian seed company. The seed we obtained produced a very vigorous, productive plant yielding medium to large, oblate to flat scarlet fruit with a rich acid taste.
Winsall: Henderson released this variety in 1925 as an improvement on Ponderosa. From a vigorous productive plant was obtained large, pink beefsteak type tomatoes of excellent, full flavor.
Other Varieties Obtained From the USDA:
Beauty of Loraine: An unusual tomato, the scarlet fruit were lobed and partially hollow on the inside, with the seeds in a fleshy mass at the center of the fruit. The flavor was not very palatable, being bland, with dry texture.
Banana Leaf: Distinctly different from other potato leaf varieties in that the leaves were more narrow and smooth, this variety yielded very firm, small, scarlet fruit of little redeeming qualities.
Queen Mary: A very prolific and healthy variety, we found this tomato to produce small to medium, globe shaped scarlet fruit in clusters of 4 to 6. The flavor was quite good.
King George: Very similar in all respects to Queen Mary, the fruits of this one were a tad smaller.
White Flowered Marge: Aside from the color of the blossoms, which were a yellow tinged white, this was an ordinary, productive, globe shaped, medium sized scarlet tomato of good flavor, but prone to cracking.
White Flowered Marglobe: This variety was very similar, if not identical, to White Flowered Marge.
White Queen: This was a pleasant surprise. Of the many "white" tomatoes that I have grown, this may be the largest and whitest, as well as the best flavored. Very productive and vigorous, the slightly ridged, oblate tomatoes were ivory to white colored, and several grew to over 1 pound.
Queen of the Purples: Obviously a victim of cross pollination, the seed produced an ordinary, medium sized scarlet, globe shaped tomato of fair taste.
Royal Purple: This variety looked very much like Beauty. The fruits were medium sized, smooth, slightly oblate, pink and delicious.
Geswein's Purple Bonny Best: This may have been the best flavored and most attractive of the pink varieties we obtained from the USDA. The uniform, medium sized, smooth pink fruits had a nice sweet flavor.
For those who are interested in obtaining seeds of these varieties, all of them will be offered by Carolyn and me in the 1995 SSE Annual, which should be mailed out in a month or so. We also hope to stimulate the interest of some seed companies with regard to carrying some of the better or more historically significant varieties in their seed catalogs. By the way, the historical background information for this article was primarily obtained from three sources: the book "Livingston and the Tomato", by A. W. Livingston, published 1893; the 1900 Seed Annual of the Livingston Seed Company, and Michigan State College Special Bulletin #290, "Tomato Varieties" by Gordon Morrison, published in April, 1938.
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What fun it was to grow these out and get a sense of what tomato growers in the 1870 to 1920 period experienced in their gardens. Rather than the big, colorful heirlooms of today, the goal back then was smooth, medium sized scarlet red tomatoes for the most part - with a few pinks and yellows and a white mixed in. While most were not exciting, it felt important to grow varieties that my grandparents may have had in their garden.
