Livingston catalog scan

[dheideman]

I acquired this a short while ago and wanted to make it available -- an old Livingston catalog in gorgeous condition!

[PhilaGardener]

Thanks - that was a fun read!

[Salsacharley]

This is a fantastic find! Thanks much for sharing such a treasure.

[twillis2252]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to post!

[carolyn137]

Just curious but did you buy it from an auction and if so curiousity compels me to ask what you paid for it.

I have the paperback of Livingston and the tomato with pretty much the same info with added color pictures of fruits and colored original pictures of the Livingston catalogs going way back.

Mike Dunton at Victory Seeds has a huge section about Livingston varieties and lots of histories,and reviews them all and indicates which are still available for which he sells seeds.

What surprised me was that Livingston's wife, I think it was,was from NYS and not that far from where I live.

http://www.victoryseeds.com/

Carolyn

[Christa B.]

Very nice find! Now off to do some googling and see if Buckeye State tomato still exists. I would love to try it since I live in Ohio (the Buckeye State).

[mecktom]

That was some interesting reading...thanks!

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by dheideman

I acquired this a short while ago and wanted to make it available -- an old Livingston catalog in gorgeous condition!

That's beautiful -- thanks for posting it!

I found it particularly interesting that it's a Livingston document that lists Aristocrat as no longer in production.

But Aristocrat may yet turn up in some seed bank/collection, public or private, or as someone's "great grandma always grew this".

It's an informational brochure, rather than a catalog, isn't it?

Do you know the date? My guess would be the 1930's, as the last section mentions Marglobe under five of its six 'most popular" headings -- and it should have probably been in the sixth, home gardening, as well -- as it was certainly popular with my grandmother, and many others, as a "does it all workhorse" for the home garden by that time.

The famous Marglobe was developed by Pritchard of the USDA by crossing Marvel -- a selection he created and stabilized around 1918 from Merveille des Marches (Marvel of the Market) -- with Livingston's Globe.

Though Marglobe was released in the 1920's, it was more well known in the 1930's -- plus the brochure mentions two Marglobe children, Pritchard (released as Scarlet Topper, but renamed Pritchard after the developer's untimely death in the early 1930's), and Break O Day, also a Marglobe child developed by Pritchard, released in the early 1930's)

So it seems that brochure couldn't have been printed earlier than the 1930's -- and if it had been as late as the 1940's it would probably have also mentioned Marglobe's child Rutgers.

Originally Posted by Christa B.

Very nice find! Now off to do some googling and see if Buckeye State tomato still exists. I would love to try it since I live in Ohio (the Buckeye State).

Here's a good source.

http://www.victoryseeds.com/tomato_buckeye-state.html

You might also be interested in Pritchard's remarks about Buckeye State in

BULLETIN 1015, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. March 28, 1922

DEVELOPMENT OF WILT-RESISTANT TOMATOES.

By Fred J. Pritchard, Physiologist, Office of Cotton, Truck, and Forage Crop
Disease Investigations.

https://ia801703.us.archive.org/11/i...il1015prit.pdf

Briefly, he thinks Buckeye State is a variety more useful for breeding than for use -- and explains why. But that doesn't mean you might not like it for sentimental reasons. Also, though they said it generally meets Livingston's original descriptions, Victory seeds was unable to document the pedigree of the surviving Buckeye State tomato -- which suggests that it could be a version of the original Buckeye State improved through some generations of family growing for use.

[dheideman]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Just curious but did you buy it from an auction and if so curiousity compels me to ask what you paid for it.

I have the paperback of Livingston and the tomato with pretty much the same info with added color pictures of fruits and colored original pictures of the Livingston catalogs going way back.

Mike Dunton at Victory Seeds has a huge section about Livingston varieties and lots of histories,and reviews them all and indicates which are still available for which he sells seeds.

What surprised me was that Livingston's wife, I think it was,was from NYS and not that far from where I live.

http://www.victoryseeds.com/

Carolyn

I snagged it off of Ebay. The seller had no idea what they had, it was lumped in a lot with 3 other catalogs of the same time period. One flower seeds and bulbs, one about life insurance of all things, and one a 'hottest christmas gifts of the season' mail-order. I think I paid like $5.75 and a couple bucks shipping for it. I consider it SUCH a steal for the history.

I have uploaded and released the catalog as a Public Domain item free for anyone to use and share. I was able to find no copyright on the work

http://wallflowerbotanicals.com/scan...-seed-company/

[dheideman]

Originally Posted by JLJ_

That's beautiful -- thanks for posting it!

I found it particularly interesting that it's a Livingston document that lists Aristocrat as no longer in production.

But Aristocrat may yet turn up in some seed bank/collection, public or private, or as someone's "great grandma always grew this".

It's an informational brochure, rather than a catalog, isn't it?

Do you know the date? My guess would be the 1930's, as the last section mentions Marglobe under five of its six 'most popular" headings -- and it should have probably been in the sixth, home gardening, as well -- as it was certainly popular with my grandmother, and many others, as a "does it all workhorse" for the home garden by that time.

The famous Marglobe was developed by Pritchard of the USDA by crossing Marvel -- a selection he created and stabilized around 1918 from Merveille des Marches (Marvel of the Market) -- with Livingston's Globe.

Though Marglobe was released in the 1920's, it was more well known in the 1930's -- plus the brochure mentions two Marglobe children, Pritchard (released as Scarlet Topper, but renamed Pritchard after the developer's untimely death in the early 1930's), and Break O Day, also a Marglobe child developed by Pritchard, released in the early 1930's)

So it seems that brochure couldn't have been printed earlier than the 1930's -- and if it had been as late as the 1940's it would probably have also mentioned Marglobe's child Rutgers.

It had to be published between 1932 (because it cites data from 1931 and 1939 (Livingston moved to field seed and stopped selling tomatoes in "the late 1930's", says http://www.saveseeds.org/biography/l...n/history.html )

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by dheideman

I snagged it off of Ebay. The seller had no idea what they had, it was lumped in a lot with 3 other catalogs of the same time period. One flower seeds and bulbs, one about life insurance of all things, and one a 'hottest christmas gifts of the season' mail-order. I think I paid like $5.75 and a couple bucks shipping for it. I consider it SUCH a steal for the history.

I have uploaded and released the catalog as a Public Domain item free for anyone to use and share. I was able to find no copyright on the work

http://wallflowerbotanicals.com/scan...-seed-company/

What a HUGE steal,I mean Huge and you know it.

Well I remember when Craig L and Jere Gettle were bidding against each other at e-bay for old catalogs.

I did look at the link, but for sure I can't read such small print, and in that format I can't enlarge it but also good to know that I have the same or similar with the modern paperback edition I mentioned above.

Carolyn

[dheideman]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

What a HUGE steal,I mean Huge and you know it.

Well I remember when Craig L and Jere Gettle were bidding against each other at e-bay for old catalogs.

I did look at the link, but for sure I can't read such small print, and in that format I can't enlarge it but also good to know that I have the same or similar with the modern paperback edition I mentioned above.

Carolyn

Oh I do! I KNOW it would have gone WAY higher if it had been sold by itself instead of the random lot it was in. I don't believe "Livingston" was even in the auction title, just in the body text.

[dokutaaguriin]

Livingston refers to Improved Dwarf Champion. I always thought it was called Dwarf Champion Improved????

Jeff
Incredible steal of deal you got!

[MissS]

What a wonderful find. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I truly have enjoyed looking at it.

[dheideman]

Originally Posted by MissS

What a wonderful find. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I truly have enjoyed looking at it.

Isn't it just a beautiful piece of history?