History of the Earliana Tomato

jennifer28 · August 10, 2012

I recently bought some old seed catalogs... anyway there was one from around 1915 or so and there is a picture of an "earliana" tomato.

I was reading some of the older threads here about earliana -

anyone grow it recently? I also noticed that Victory Seeds has it, does anyone know which strain they have? I suppose I could just email them and ask them

but I am just interested in the tomato since I came across it today when I was cleaning and found the old catalogs.

any info anyone wants to share would be appreciated

dustdevil · August 12, 2012

A lot of the really old tomato varieties such as Earliana were obtained from GRIN before they tightened up their procurement policies.

**carolyn137** · August 12, 2012

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Earliana

Jennifer, there were many versions of Earliana and Tania lists a few but there are more. After it was first introduced it became very popular and different seed companies changed the name and offered it under another name. That was done back then to suggest that a company had an exclusive.

I grew it years ago and never since and in the 2012 SSE YEarbook there is only one listing for it. And I should add that Tania indicated that the variety Alice Roosevelt was also probably Ealiana and to that one I'll add King George as well, and I got both of those from the USGRIN when it was still possible to do so. And no real difference between either of them and Earliana that I could detect.

I can give you more history if you want me to from some research/data paers I still have. But I'm not sure what it is you really want to know.

I just looked at Mike's Victory Seed site and he doesn't indicate any specific version of Earliana, but the same question could be asked of the other seed sources that Tania lists as well. If he got it from the USDA there would be an acession number. but I don't see one.

I love old seed catalogs but am not an e-bay buyer of same and never will be. But Craig shows several at his blog, I think, as does Mike himself, I think, and in the Legacy Forum I think, getting repetitive here, that there were several links to sites which displayed old seed catalogs.

Actually Craig L sent me 4 or 5 old ones for a birthday gift one year and I also had some old Burpee ones that I got from an elderly neigbor many years ago when I was still in HS, so you know how long ago that was.

.

August 10, 2012	#1
jennifer28 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Connecticut Posts: 853	History of the Earliana Tomato I recently bought some old seed catalogs... anyway there was one from around 1915 or so and there is a picture of an "earliana" tomato. I was reading some of the older threads here about earliana - anyone grow it recently? I also noticed that Victory Seeds has it, does anyone know which strain they have? I suppose I could just email them and ask them but I am just interested in the tomato since I came across it today when I was cleaning and found the old catalogs. any info anyone wants to share would be appreciated __________________ Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down and turn them into paper that we may record our emptiness. -from Sand and Foam, by Khalil Gibran

August 12, 2012	#3
carolyn137 Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 12,184	http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Earliana Jennifer, there were many versions of Earliana and Tania lists a few but there are more. After it was first introduced it became very popular and different seed companies changed the name and offered it under another name. That was done back then to suggest that a company had an exclusive. I grew it years ago and never since and in the 2012 SSE YEarbook there is only one listing for it. And I should add that Tania indicated that the variety Alice Roosevelt was also probably Ealiana and to that one I'll add King George as well, and I got both of those from the USGRIN when it was still possible to do so. And no real difference between either of them and Earliana that I could detect. I can give you more history if you want me to from some research/data paers I still have. But I'm not sure what it is you really want to know. I just looked at Mike's Victory Seed site and he doesn't indicate any specific version of Earliana, but the same question could be asked of the other seed sources that Tania lists as well. If he got it from the USDA there would be an acession number. but I don't see one. I love old seed catalogs but am not an e-bay buyer of same and never will be. But Craig shows several at his blog, I think, as does Mike himself, I think, and in the Legacy Forum I think, getting repetitive here, that there were several links to sites which displayed old seed catalogs. Actually Craig L sent me 4 or 5 old ones for a birthday gift one year and I also had some old Burpee ones that I got from an elderly neigbor many years ago when I was still in HS, so you know how long ago that was.. __________________ Carolyn

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August 12, 2012	#2
dustdevil Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: WI, USA Zone4 Posts: 1,073	A lot of the really old tomato varieties such as Earliana were obtained from GRIN before they tightened up their procurement policies.