Alexander W. Livingston (1821–1898) was an American

horticulturist Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

and seed company founder. He developed some of the first

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

varieties that were suitable for commercial production. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 1937 yearbook declared that "half of the major varieties were a result of the abilities of the Livingstons to evaluate and perpetuate superior material in the tomato." Livingston's first breed of tomato, the Paragon, was introduced in 1870.

Biography

Livingston was born on October 14, 1821 (some sources say 1822) in

Reynoldsburg, Ohio Reynoldsburg is a city in Fairfield County, Ohio, Fairfield, Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin, and Licking County, Ohio, Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a suburban community in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area. The population ...

. He married Matilda Dickey Graham in 1840. They had 10 children. Retrieved August 18, 2024 Their house in Reynoldsburg was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Retrieved August 18, 2024 He was working for another seed grower when he purchased his own farm land near Reynoldsburg and eventually purchased his employers farm land. He was interested in growing tomatoes that had a uniform roundness, size and better flavor. He would select tomatoes with those characteristics and save the seeds and plant them the next year. After several years of doing this, he had a tomato that he felt was good enough to market. He and his company would go on to develop seventeen varieties of tomato. He eventually started the A.W. Livingston's Sons seed company in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. Livingston died in 1898.

Bibliography

* ''Livingston and the tomato'', A. W. Livingston, 1893

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Alexander W. 1821 births 1889 deaths American horticulturists People from Reynoldsburg, Ohio