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Stewardship story
“My aim from the first was to grow tomatoes smooth in contour, uniform in size, and better flavored.” -A.W. Livingston inLivingston and the Tomato
Believe it or not , love apple were once consider toxicant . The story of Tomato 3165 ‘ Missouri Pink Love Apple ’ is a case in peak . This variety came to Seed Savers Exchange by agency of Ron Thuma , who , in twist , receive it from the Jennings family of Waverly , Kansas . Grown by Jennings ’s Grandpa Barnes during the Civil War epoch as an ornamental , this love apple was never deplete by the family because Grandpa Barnes cogitate the fruits were poisonous .
While tomato plant are actually not venomous , they did not always have the majuscule taste , uniform shapes , and beautiful colors we are habitual to today . And we have one stock breeder to give thanks for many of these improvements . In the mid-1800s , A.W. Livingston , the father of the modern tomato , began to improve tomato by wee them smooth - skinned , uniform in size , and more flavorful . After many attempts at hybridization , he used lifelike mutant in open - pollinated population to select plants with specific characteristics he found interesting . Livingston introduced his first love apple , ‘ Paragon , ’ using this single works selection technique in 1870 . Livingston and his party spawn and released 35 tomato varieties between 1870 and 1941 .
By the mid - twentieth century , many Livingston tomato had disappear from the source trade . In 1999 , Mike Dunton ’s Victory Seed Company began recreating Livingston ’s seed collection ; Dunton has successfully located or restored 19 Livingston tomato plant varieties to date .
Tomato pioneer A.W. Livingston was featured on his eponymous company’s 1891 catalog cover.
In 2015 and 2016 , Seed Savers Exchange conducted field evaluation on more than 30 tomato accessions thought to have originated from Livingston . We compared these accessions to historic descriptions and image , as well as selective information and images from Victory Seeds , and often correspond with Mike Dunton . We confirmed the follow Seed Savers tomatoes as estimable matches to historic Livingston variety : Tomato 4397 ‘ Livingston ’s Main Crop Pink , ’ Tomato 731 ‘ Livingston Dwarf Stone , ’ ‘ Tomato 4497 ‘ Livingston Paragon , ’ Tomato 4598 ‘ Gold Ball , ’ Tomato 4699 ‘ Livingston ’s Beauty , ’ and Tomato 5334 ‘ Livingston Marvelous . ’ We also matched Tomato 364 ‘ Lutescent ’ to Livingston ’s ‘ Honor Bright . ’ This mixed bag is one of our most singular tomatoes , ripening from green to whiten to yellow to orange to red . In increase , the blossom are cream - color , rather than the typical sensationalistic coloring material and the leave are yellow - unripened .
While Livingston tomatoes typically do n’t have the full feeling of a modern - twenty-four hours variety , Livingston dramatically meliorate upon the status quo with his releases . Our favorite - taste Livingston love apple are Tomato 457 ‘ Gulf State Market , ’ Tomato 351 ‘ Stone ’ ( aka ‘ Livingston ’s Stone ’ ) , and ‘ Livingston ’s Marvelous . ’ Many the great unwashed have mentioned that Livingston tomatoes cue them of what tomatoes used to taste like : not too fresh , but with a classical tomato flavor . For more information on Mike Dunton ’s body of work recovering Livingston love apple varieties , visitVictory Seed Company’swebsite .
in the beginning published March 16 , 2017 . Updated January 23 , 2025 .
Tomato pioneer A.W. Livingston was featured on his eponymous company’s 1891 catalog cover.
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Through field Evaluations, Seed Savers Exchange recently identified its Tomato 364, ‘Lutescent,’ as Livingston’s ‘Honor Bright.’
Seed Savers Exchange is a taxation - exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit organisation dedicate to the preservation of heirloom seeds .
Seed Savers Exchange introduced the historic ‘Livingston’s Paragon tomato’ in the 2017 catalog.
