Tomato Culture: A Practical Treatise on the TomatoTracy, W. W. (William Warner)
Science
Tomato Culture: A Practical Treatise on the Tomato
Tracy, W. W. (William Warner)
Tomatoes
The character of the interior of the fruit varies greatly in different
varieties. Both the exterior and divisional walls vary in thickness and
in consistency. In some varieties they are comparatively thin, hard and
dry; in others, thicker, softer and more juicy. In some cases there is
but little interior wall, the fruit being divided into but few--even but
two--cells of even size and shape, while in others there are many cells
of varying size and shape. Varieties also differ greatly as to the
amount, consistency and flavor of the pulp and the number of seeds. It
requires from 300 to 500 pounds of ripe fruit to furnish a pound of seed
of Ponderosa, while with some of the smaller, earlier sorts one can get
a pound of seed from 100 to 200 pounds of fruit.
=Coloring and ripening.=--Uniformity and evenness in coloring and
ripening are an important quality. Tomatoes generally color and ripen
from within outward, and from the point opposite the stem upward, but
varieties differ in the evenness and rapidity with which this takes
place. It is always desirable that the ripening be as even as possible
and that there be no green and hard spots either at the surface or in
the flesh, but often perfection in this respect is correlated with such
lack of size and solidity as to counterbalance it. Rapidity in ripening,
in a general way, is desirable for fruit to be used at home, and
undesirable in that which is to be shipped.
The time a tomato fruit will remain in usable condition and the amount
of rough handling it will endure without becoming unsalable are most
important commercial qualities depending largely upon the combined
effects of the form and structure of the fruit, solidity and firmness of
the flesh and ripening habit. In all these respects we have varieties
which differ greatly, from the Honor Bright, which requires as much time
to ripen, and when ripe is firm-fleshed and will remain usable as long
as a peach, to those which 24 hours after reaching their full size are
fully colored and ripe, and in 24 hours more are so over-ripe and soft
that they will break open of their own weight.
These are only some of the varietal differences of the tomato. Are such
differences of practical importance? I think they are, and that a wise
selection of the type best suited to one's own particular conditions and
requirements is one of the most essential requisites of satisfactory
tomato culture. How important it seems to practical tomato growers may
be illustrated by an actual case.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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