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Old August 25, 2013   #18
carolyn137
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
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Tom, I noted above that there were so many ways of expressing this variety that I was having trouble searching

You've linked to several of the links I was going to put up, so now I don't need to do that.

For what it SHOULD look like I'd go back to some of the pictures in the older catalogs from the Ventmarin link I gave,

And MOST helpful are the line drawings, a single fruit, a cluster of fruits and a smaller single fruit showing the square shape of the fruit, and description in the first English edition of Vilmorin in1885,

I'm going to laboriusly, ahem, copy down all of that description. And laboriously since it's near the end of that very fat book, I can't keep the page open, so have to type one handed.

KING HUMBERT TOMATO (Tomate Roi Humbert)

This variety, which is probably derived from the pear-shaped tomato, is distinguished by its rather peculiar form and appearance. The fruit, which grows in clusters of from 5 to 10, is of a pretty regular shape, but is frequently flattened on four sides, so that a section of it, espeically near the end, presents a nearly square outline. It is about the size of a small hen's egg and of a very bright scarlet colour. The plant is of average height and earliness, and a most extraordinary cropper, with spreading leaves that are not curled,. The new English variety called Chiswick Red comes so near this variety that we think one might be very easily mistaken for the other.

$$$$$

There are no nipples shown.

I couldn't get your translation of the Italian article to display.

From the 2006 SSE YEarbook listing for King Humbert.

From Belgium;aka Re Umberto),indet,red shaped fruit, excellent paste

From Denmark:, aka Konig Humbert, indet,pear shaped, egg sized,scarlet fruits in clusters of 8-10 or more, tasty,amazingly prolific, midseason but crops well until first frost ( smooth, slightly thick skin), described in Vilmorin 1885, introduced to Denmark same period, trialed by Royal Hort Soc England in1887,reintroduced to England in1970's from Gatersleben Gene Bank.

&&&&

No mention of nipples and I went back to Bill Minkey's listing and he said nothing about nipples either,his source was Norbert in France, as I described above and I'm pretty sure that my seeds were from Bill and I don't remember any nipples either,just the tough skin.


Carolyn
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