A clearer view of the Brandywine histories?

[nctomatoman]

I was fortunate to swoop in and get a great seed catalog a few days ago - an 1894 Johnson and Stokes (well, not financially fortunate...it wasn't cheap! but it is a beauty). And what is contained in the tomato pages perhaps paints a bit of a clearer picture on the Brandywine (pink fruit potato leaf) Red Brandywine (red fruit regular leaf) and possibly Yellow Brandywine (pale orange fruit, potato leaf) situation - though I am still making some leaps.

First of all, Johnson and Stokes are very clear on their use of color descriptions and leaf shape. Most of the tomatoes they list as red - and the clearly use the words pink or purplish to denote what we know to be pink tomatoes. They are also clear on not mentioning leaf shape when speaking about regular leaf tomatoes, but ensuring they describe those that are potato leaf. I also got a sense for how they consider size (it is all relative - they describe their best early variety, Atlantic prize, as fruiting at 4 inches tall with enormous fruit.....I think they mean enormous for the early season - my guess would be a 3 oz tomato at best.

So, anyway, they describe "The Brandywine" as a second early, size large, and beautiful bright red - from the woodcut it is clearly regular leaf and about 2-3 times the size of Atlantic Prize, putting it in the 6-8 ounce range. All of this could indicate that the Johnson and Stokes Brandywine is what we know of as the Landis Valley and Heirloom Seeds version of Red Brandywine.

They do list a tomato that is a large pink potato leaf - Mikado, AKA Turner's Hybrid AKA $1000 tomato, 12-18 ounces and "very solid" (small seed cavities). To me, this matches the description of what we know as Brandywine (Sudduth or Quisenberry), so it is possible that at some point in history, Mikado was given the name "Brandywine" by some family or person.

Finally, they give a brief description for Shah - AKA "Golden Mikado", as a golden fruited version of Mikado - large fruit and potato leaf. I picture what we know of as Yellow Brandywine fitting this description well - so, again, Shah could have picked up a new name somewhere along the line.

This also reinforces that those carrying or describing "Shah" as a medium sized white tomato do not have the correct story.

I will continue to seek Catalogs from Johnson and Stokes - along with Maule, Livingston, Salzer, Burpee and Henderson, these paint the best pictures of tomato developments in the 1870-1920 time period.