Koda and Marlin on the Ivestor Gap trail in late Sept

One of my favorite gardening books is “Livingston and the Tomato”, published as a reprint with additional information by author and historian Andrew Smith. Carolyn and I were delighted that Andrew submitted the following article for publication in our newsletter. Enjoy!

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Alexander Livingston and the Tomato

Andrew F. Smith

Ever since I began researching tomato history, I have been in awe of Alexander Livingston. Although several tomato pamphlets had been published previously to his book, “Livingston and the Tomato” was the first major work published about tomatoes in America. Previous works concentrated on how to make a profit from growing tomatoes. Livingston’s book was comprehensive; it included more than sixty five tomato recipes, a wealth of cultivation tips and techniques, and a description of his progress in developing and introducing tomato varieties. In all, he launched thirteen tomato varieties between 1870 and 1893. If copying is a form of flattery, Livingston was highly praised by his contemporaries and competitors. All of his varieties were pirated by others and were issues under a variety of different names. No other 19th or 20th century seeds-man came close to introducing as many influential tomato varieties as did Livingston.

Due to Livingston’s prominence in tomato history, I have always wanted to visit Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Reynoldsburg has not forgotten Livingston or its tomatoey past. Every year for the past three decades, Reynoldsburg has sponsored an annual Tomato Festival, which, of course, includes contests for the largest tomato plant, the heaviest fruit, the smallest fruit, and forty one other categories. In addition, the town of Reynoldsburg purchased the house in which Livingston had lived during the 1860s and early 1870s. The house now is a historic site on the National Register.

A few weeks ago after concluding some business in Pittsburgh, I decided that the moment for my pilgrimage had arrived. I traveled west on I-70, exiting at Reynoldsburg, a few miles east of Columbus, Ohio. As soon as I left the interstate, I knew that this was my kind of town; a sign announced that Reynoldsburg was “the birthplace of the tomato”. A few minutes after settling down in my motel, I telephoned OTV member Jim Huber. Jim is a Livingston aficionado, who collects seed catalogs, letters and other memorabilia related to the Livingston Seed Company.

Jim acquired the key to Alexander Livingston’s home, which serves as a community center for Reynoldsburg today. The Livingston House Society, an all-volunteer nonprofit group, has tried to furnish the house with furniture typical of the 19th century. Alan Livingston, great grandson of Alexander, helped refurbish it. Others donated or lent items. Local history buffs have attempted to reconstruct the house in historically appropriate ways. Pictures of Livingston Seed catalogs adorn the walls and the house has been furnished with mid-19th century antiques. The house and the adjoining property had been lovingly cared for and there are plans to grow some of the Livingston tomato varieties in the surrounding yard. As we toured the house, Jim discussed Livingston and his contributions to tomato history.

Livingston had been born in Reynoldsburg in 1822. When he was 23, he married Matilda Graham. Their marriage produced ten children, only one of whom died in infancy. Livingston leased property and began farming. He also began experimenting with growing seed for trade. In 1850 he purchased a seed consignment business. Based on the proceeds, he built the home in 1863-64. He began experimenting with developing new plant varieties during this period. Although he worked with many different plants, Livingston’s true love was the tomato.

After our tour and discussion, Jim recommended that I contact Connie Parkinson, a Reynoldsburg historian, who had authored “Alex Livingston: The Tomato Man 1821-1298” in 1985. When I spoke with her on the telephone, she had just finished revising the pamphlet. She kindly forwarded a copy of her new manuscript “Alex Livingston: The Tomato Man and His Times”, which helped fill in Livingston’s life and his contributions toward developing tomato varieties.

Like many other businesses in America, Livingston’s seed business went bankrupt in the crash of 1875-76. He sold his home in 1876 and turned over his business to his son Robert. The firm moved to Columbus and was renamed Alexander Livingston and Sons. Alexander moved to Iowa, where he established a site for a new company. He had originally planned to move the entire seed company from Ohio, but under Robert’s management the business prospered. In 1890, after the death of his wife, Alexander turned over his Iowa seed business to another son, Josiah, and returned to Ohio. He lived the remaining years of his life in Columbus, where he died in 1898.

Livingston was neither the first nor the only American to develop significant tomato varieties, but he was unquestionably the most influential tomato developer in the 19th century. During the 1860s, he located an unusual plant in one of his tomato fields. It had uniformly round fruit of similar size, but it was too small for commercial use. In the following years he grew seeds from this plant and its offspring. He ended with a plant of similar characteristics as the original, but with much larger fruit. In 1870 he introduced it as Paragon. Its fruit was larger than many of the standard tomato varieties then available. It was solid, uniform and well flavored. According to Livingston, it “was the first perfectly and uniformly smooth tomato ever introduced to the American public, or, so far as I have ever learned, the first introduced to the world”.

Whether or not the Paragon was the first tomato variety to be uniformly smooth and round was challenged by historians. What was indisputable was the popularity of the Paragon in America. It quickly became a favorite among market gardeners and canners, and was sold by many other seedsmen. According to a major competitor, the Landreth Seed Company in Pennsylvania, the Paragon “was the perfection of a tomato – large, solid and smooth as an apple, and deep red”. They believed it was a superb variety for which “no praise can be too high”. Of course, the Landreths forgot to mention that the Paragon had been developed by Livingston.

Seventeen years after the Paragon was first introduced, the renowned botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey reported that it was “constant in size and shape, three to four inches across and two inches deep, usually perfectly regular when ripe, bright light red, firm and good”. It continued to be marketed for seven decades after its initial introduction, a remarkable feat for any variety. In addition, other seedsmen grew the Paragon, renamed their results, and sold them as new varieties. For instance, Bailey could find no difference between the Paragon and other varieties subsequently sold under the names of New Jersey, Arlington, Emery, Autocrat, Mayflower and Scoville.

Unlike others who developed a significant variety, Livingston did not rest upon his initial success. He continued searching for new varieties and he continued crossing different varieties that had particular characteristics. These efforts resulted in a regular flood of new varieties for 20 years. In 1875 he introduced Acme, which was an early ripener of medium size. Its fruit were slightly oval, but smooth. Its color was maroon or red with a slight tinge of purple. Its flesh was solid. According to Landreth, it was “a popular sort everywhere”. According to Bailey, the Acme was one of the best varieties in cultivation. Other seedsmen liked it so much that they released “new” varieties that were indistinguishable from the Acme, including the Rochester, Rochester Favorite, Climax and Essex Hybrid.

In 1880 Livingston introduced the Perfection, which was aimed at the shipping market. Derived from the Acme, Livingston had created a blood red tomato with a uniformly smooth fruit. It ripened earlier and had a tough skin not easily broken, and therefore was useful to shippers. The Perfection continued to be sold until 1922.

Three years later he introduced Livingston’s Favorite tomato, aimed at the fast growing canning industry. The Favorite was one of the largest, perfectly shaped tomatoes then in cultivation. It was smoother than the Paragon and did not crack or rot like the Acme. It was a darker red than the Perfection, and evenly ripened as early as other good varieties. It was very prolific, and possessed a good flavor, few seeds, solid flesh, and survived shipping long distances. When it was introduced, the Joseph Breck & Sons seed company in Boston reported that the Favorite along with the Acme and Perfection “were three of the best tomatoes ever introduced”.

As canners were interested in a purple colored tomato, Livingston found one growing in his Paragon tomatoes. He christened it the Beauty, and introduced it in 1886. Its fruit was large and showy; its color was deep red with a slight tone of purple. It grew in a cluster, and was “solid and meaty, smooth and free from rot or green core”, according to a Landreth seed catalog, which again failed to mention that Livingston had developed the variety.

Livingston was always on the lookout for new varieties with unique characteristics. In 1885 he obtained a specimen from a market gardener near Columbus that appeared particularly promising for it produced a thick, solid, red fruit. It was shaped like the Beauty and Favorite. Livingston continued experimenting with it, and released it in 1889. As the fruit weighed more than any other of his varieties, he called it the New Stone. It was subsequently used to develop several other important 20th century varieties, including the Earliana, Globe and Greater Baltimore varieties.

Livingston also worked with yellow varieties. His Golden Queen was a bright creamy yellow tomato, with a slight tendency to be reddish at the bottom. Its fruit was flattish and reached two and one half inches in diameter, and it often became slightly angular. His Gold Ball was a bright golden-yellow color; round as a ball, one and one half inches in diameter, few seeds and very productive. The Golden Queen is one of the few Livingston tomatoes sold continuously since it was introduced in 1882.

The other varieties that Livingston introduced were the Potato Leaf, Royal Red, Buckeye State, New Dwarf Aristocrat, and the Large Rose Peach. None of these varieties were commercially as successful as the Paragon, Acme, Perfection or the Favorite.

After Alexander Livingston’s death, the Livingston Seed Company prospered under the control of his sons and grandsons. Livingston’s sons continued to develop new tomato varieties. The 20th century varieties included the Globe, which was a cross between Livingston’s Stone and the Ponderosa. In 1917, the USDA crossed the Glove with the Marvel – a French variety, and the union produced the Marglobe released in 1925. In all, the Livingstons introduced thirty one varieties of tomatoes. Alan Livingston sold the company in 1979 to Forest Randolph. The company was later acquired by Robert Johnston, who continues to operate it under the name of Livingston Seed Company in Columbus.

Of all of the Alexander Livingston’s introductions, only the Golden Queen and the New Stone were continuously sold since their introductions. As previously noted in an OTV article by Craig LeHoullier (Volume 1, number 3), until recently few of Livingston’s other varieties were thought to have survived. However, Craig and Carolyn Male searched the USDA’s list of tomato accessions and found several varieties thought extinct. Some of these are now for sale by seedsmen, such as Jeff McCormack at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, who seeds the Stone, Paragon, Beauty and Favorite. The Tomato Growers Supply Company sells the Golden Queen. Others are available through the Seed Savers Exchange, including Livingston’s Perfection.

Sources

Sources include Connie Parkinson of Reynoldsburg Ohio, Linda Sapp of Tomato Growers Supply Company and Jeff McCormack of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Addresses and phone numbers available by request.

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I’ve read the book many times, and Mr. Smith’s book sent me on continuing searches through seed banks to locate not only the original Livingston varieties, but other important commercial varieties listed in various old seed catalogs thought to be extinct. A fringe benefit of my old tomato interest is meeting and befriending Mike Dunton, of Victory Seeds, who was pursuing old tomatoes in the Pacific Northwest with identical vigor to my efforts.