Wednesday, July 9, 2014

1885 Praise of Mr. A. W. Livingston


We are in the habit of indulging in hearty congratulations over the advanced conditions of our modern horticulture. Such effusions are as cheap as they are appropriate. But it is well, now and then, to take a look backward and recall some of those to whom the goddess of horticulture is indebted for her present exalted position. When we do this, we discover that the number who have put forth earnest, systematic and persistent efforts to the real foundation work in horticulture is not large, nor have such always been most rewarded. We owe a tribute of praise to every worker who has spent years of patient care and selection in seeking to improve the products of our orchards and gardens. It is this sort of work that really builds up horticulture, and this class of workers that most deserves our recognition and encouragement. 
Mr. A. W. Livingston of Des Moines, Iowa, whose portrait appears on this page, emphatically belongs to this class of horticultural workers, and his successful labors in improving the tomato have made his name well-known to those who are interested in gardening. Indeed, to him we are indebted for many of our best market tomatoes. The introduction of the Paragon, Mr. Livingston‘s first success (about 1867), may be said to have marked an era in the culture of the tomato. Previous to that time we scarcely possessed a variety of this fruit suitable for extensive shipping, and few varieties were sufficiently smooth and solid to make them worthy of culture, even in the family garden. But since the dissemination of the Paragon, Acme, Perfection and Favorite, all Mr. Livingston's productions, the tomato has rapidly increased in importance, until it now ranks among our prominent market and garden products. 
1870s map





Mr. Livingston was born in the year 1821, in Franklin County, Ohio, a few miles from the city of Columbus. The surrounding country was then a wilderness, and his parents were able to give him few advantages. After the age of ten years his schooling was limited to a few winters, and when he attained his majority he hired out at such work as came to hand “by the day, job or any other way." He soon married and rented a farm, on which he lived eleven years, during which time he was able to save sufficient to purchase 50 acres for himself, and soon
commenced the culture of garden seeds. Even before this time, he had begun to turn his attention to improving the tomato. To use his own words, “ I commenced selecting the smooth specimens, and after fifteen years of untiring effort, I found myself no nearer my object of getting a perfect tomato than when I began my plan. I then changed my plan and selected from smooth dwarf varieties, having a certain peculiar kind of seed, with no rough fruits on the vine, and by careful selection, in five years, I was able to send out a fine, large, smooth red tomato, that bears not a single rough fruit, which I named the Paragon.'"
Those who have attempted to develop new varieties of fruit or vegetables will be able to appreciate something of the patience required to continue one's efforts for twenty consecutive years before sufficient success is attained to warrant an introduction. Contrast this with the record of some of our seedsmen. Instead of patiently working in their own grounds to produce superior new varieties and refusing to introduce a sort that has not sterling merit, they have grasped at novelties wherever they could find them and have pushed them industriously. A comparison of the Turk’s Cap and President Garfield tomatoes with any of Mr. Livingston's offers a case in point.
The Paragon was soon followed by the Acme, a tomato of equally regular form with a purplish red skin. By this time it was apparent that a tougher skin was demanded for shipping purposes. and the Perfection was developed to satisfy this want. The Favorite was offered as having special value for canning, owing to the solidity of its flesh and the fewness of its seeds. It may, perhaps, be questioned whether Mr. Livingston’s more recent introductions are in any sense superior to the Perfection and Favorite. The color of the Beauty is extremely brilliant, however, while its quality is probably unsurpassed among the purplish red tomatoes. For many years Mr. Livingston’s introductions were regarded as standards among tomatoes and they are still in high esteem. During the last few years many valuable sorts have been put out by other parties, some of which bear too close a resemblance to the Perfection and Favorite to be regarded as distinct.
We think that Mr. Livingston merits the recognition of progressive horticulturists for his persevering efforts to secure new varieties of real merit. To say that a seed grower has introduced half a dozen or more novelties is not particularly to his credit, but to say that he has originated some truly valuable acquisitions, and that he spent twenty years on the first, is to make him eminently worthy of our esteem.
An article from 1885 -  The American GardenA Monthly Illustrated Journal Devoted to Garden Art
Super Link:  Victory Seeds has a Livingston tomato collection with good historical information!


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

A Fun Connection Between Two Seed Companies


This easygoing couple is happy to see a 250 pound Livingston's Perfection tomato balanced on the their bed's footboard, even before their first coffee!

The Livingston tomatoes were famous for being the best of the new hybrids. Their seeds were sold by many companies.  The Perfection was introduced in 1880.  Livingston had developed it to fill the need for a "good shipper".

Jerome B. Rice & Company is my favorites for goofy vegetable people trade cards. I'll be exploring his company and his advertising more in the future.



 Why would the artist make a grumpy pea couple?    And the cucumber man looks totally disillusioned.  The celery lady at least dully interested in something to the right!



Monday, July 7, 2014

Marrow/Zucchini Seed Humor, plus Pongo the Pup

I forgot to compose a post for today!  (Ah, summer...) But this is seed related :-)
Enjoy this postcard from WW I, and if you have the time, check out the Pongo the Pup 1924 animation link.  
If you remember early animation, the surreal qualities that pop in around the 2:14 mark won't be a shocker.  If you are a youngster, know this mixture of realities was not uncommon back then.


Gardening humor during WW I by Dudley Buxton.  

Dudley Buxton (c.1885-1951) was a British comic artist involved in some of the first British animated films, including working with Anson Dyer and the Kine Komedy Kartoons in the 1910s. In 1924 and 1925 he wrote and directed the "Pongo the Pup" series as an answer to the American "Felix the Cat" of 1922.  



Sunday, July 6, 2014

1891 - Proud Daddy Livingston!!...?


These little tomato faces MUST be Livingston children!

The boy in the barrel is a goofy little soul.  This catalog is very good humored...I wonder 
what was going on in the family!  

 Speaking of pride, the names of two of these vegies use the word.  Pride of Ireland potato and The Pride of Newtown bean.




Saturday, July 5, 2014

Livingston's History, Plus Phlox Drummondi and Pansies for 1910

It is such a nice day outside here in Connecticut I could not just post text heavy history at the top of the page  ...interesting as it may be to you or me.  
(I have even placed a huge version of this flower litho at the end so you can wallow in the flowers!)  
The article below from a 1910 issue of American Florist magazine is of interest because it mentions the acreage acquired over time...plus has good photos of the Livingstons.  

A larger version of the next article for easier reading is at the end.





Friday, July 4, 2014

1892 - Asparagus Troops



Asparagus Engraving, A. W. Livingston's Sons
This asparagus engraving is great looking.  Can't be beat.  So sez me.
Wish it was in focus...




Thursday, July 3, 2014

1906 - Livingston Seed Co.: Be Still My Heart


Summer! 
 This is a 1906 Livingston's Seeds catalog.
This sweet pepper is the vegetable equivalent of a Henry Miller novel.
You wouldn't know that inside, by this time, dull photo illustrations had almost replaced the sprightly engravings inside the catalog.  



I just love this green.
!


This is rather overstating the matter as applied to seed catalogs, but I do look for that special life affirming page within them :-)

"I believe that today more than ever a book should be sought after even if it has only one great page in it: we must search for fragments, splinters, toenails, anything that has ore in it, anything that is capable of resuscitating the body and soul. It may be that we are doomed, that there is no hope for us, any of us, but if that is so then let us set up a last agonizing, bloodcurdling howl, a screech of defiance, a war whoop! Away with lamentation! Away with elegies and dirges! Away with biographies and histories, and libraries and museums! Let the dead eat the dead. Let us living ones dance about the rim of the crater, a last expiring dance. But a dance!"
                      Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, 1934