On (20 May 97) Sandra Peake wrote to Linda Miller...
 SP> To: LINDA MILLER
 SP> Subject: A tomato question...
Hello Sandra, PINCH....
 SP> LM>considered heirlooms in the family. My step-childrens grandmother
 SP>   Whoah! They sound suspiciously like Texas tomatoes! :-) And they sound
now ain't that just like a Texan!
 SP>   like tomatoes I would like to try. But they also sound somewhat like
 SP>   Prudden's Purple and its close relative, Brandywine, both of which I'm
 SP>   growing this summer. (PP is 10 days earlier.)  They belong to the
 SP>   potato-leaf determinate genre of tomatoes, and Brandywine, at least,
 SP>   is not very productive. But it has the reputation of being an
clip...
 SP>   TYhe only thing is, I consider them a fresh eating tomato, as opposed
 SP>   to a canning tomato. They're rather mild for good saucemaking, but do
 SP>   carry few seeds. They are quite large, and 1 1/2-lb ones are fairly
 SP>   common.
 SP> LM>address if you'd like a few.  They are low-acid - mauvy redish
 SP> LM>pink in color and so meaty you have to mash the seed out.
 SP> LM>Now then, it's about 78 days to harvest.
I think,  the grandmother being from Bell,  W.Va.  area named the
tomato for the farmer that gave her the seed.  Now then,  I  have
discovered another tomato from the Charleston/Huntington areas of
W.Va.  called Mortgage Lifter,  very simular...there  are  varied
names  and many lay claim to the seed.  But you know how
that goes. Grandmother always grew a red tomato that she called
early girl, deep red, large sweet tomato that I think crossed one
windy day with a variation of the Mortgage Lifter and became what
she called Abe Hall's. And boy are they goooooood, make my mouth
water just thinkin' about them. They are too big and would bruise
easily for commercial use.
 SP>   That's Brandywine's range, also. She may have started with Brandywine,
 SP>   because it was a real favourite 100 years ago, but after many years of
 SP>   raising it, she may have developed a strain eminently suited to her
 SP>   local conditions. That's what I wish to do.
snip...
 SP> LM>some if you hand pollinate them, using a feather or soft brush
 SP>   Um, Linda, that sounds like way too much work. Even scientists who
 SP>   grow out hundreds of varieties, 5 plants in a row, say that there is
 SP>   less than 2% crossing of species, especially among modern varieties;
 SP>   so they save seeds from the middle plants in the row, and rarely
 SP>   bother with hand pollination unless deliberately crossbreeding.
a  few  years back I had my yellow tomatoes to cross with the Abe
Hall,  produced a streaked not so sweet tomato,  nothing I  would
have wanted to go any further with.
I only pollinate the first sets of blossom on several (10 to 15)
plants, this is the fruit I select to save seed from.
 SP> LM>Another sincere tomato lover.
 SP>    Ditto. :-)
 SP>                            ...Sandra...
God Bless,
Linda
--- PPoint 1.92
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