I just previewed Andy Smith's book and there's no mention of Feejee/Fiji (or any other alternate spelling).
$$$$$$$
And how did you preview his book, asking how much did you see of the book, and were you able to see the appendix that I've been referring to?
As I said above I have no way of getting to his book right now but I was able to get to my paperback of the Vilmorin Seed Co ( France, English edition) 1885 edition and here's what I found.
Large Red Tomato (Tomate Rouge Grosse, English synonyms Large Red Italian, Orangefield,Mammoth, or Figi Island Tomato.
Followed by a complete description of plant habit and fruit characteristics.
I was also able to get to the book by Fearing Burr, the 1883 edition, and this is what was written.
Fejee
Fruit quite large, red, often blushed or tinged with pinkish-crimson, flattened, sometimes ribbed , often smooth, well filled to the centre, flesh pink or pale red, firm and well flavored; plant hardy, healthy and a strong grower
Seeds received from several reliable sources and recommended as being strictly true, produced plants in no respect different from the Perfected
And now Perfected, just a bit, aka Lester's Perfected,Pomo d Oro, Lesterlaro
Then a description, then saying that from a recent writer it has already degenerated/
Therein is the problem with reseraching older varieties. They are known by many defferent synonyms, and the reason for that is b'c from about the mid-1800's onward there was fierce competition between seed companies, they would get a variety and change its name to indicate something exclusive.
One of my major sources is the Michgan State Bulletin of 1939 which is a wonderful resource and in there I can't remember the name of the variety right now, but I counted up to 30 different synonyms for a single variety.
So does it surprise me that Fiji, however it is spelled has been extinct for many years? No, not at all and hundreds of others as well.
HEre's and example of what I'm talking about. A Livington was and is very well known for the varieties he offered in the latter part of the 1800's and many of the varieties we have today can be traced back to many of those varieties.
One of them was
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki...b=General_Info
It was thought to be extinct until I can't remem
ber who it was who was growing what we now call Lutescent, which I have grown and is a real oddity, and made the connection.
Another example is Shah which has long been extinct and there's a nice thread in the Legacy Forum where Craig describes what it should be, but I'm going tol ink to Tania's page for it b'c it is quicker.
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Shah
It was brought back form the dead by WWW who started SSE listing it, it got spread around but it was actually White Potato Leaf, link to that in Tania's page above.
I have three friends who bid for old seed catalogs on e-bay, the bidding is ridiculous, but b'c of them and some others we now know the background on MANY varieties, when they were introduced, what they looked like, etc.
Steven. I appreciate your interest in this specific variety, but it could have been several hundreds of other varieties that have been extinct for a long time. perhaps you read the thread about Acme that was put up and I asked Mike Dunton of Victory seeds to stop by and post since he is the real authority on Livingston varieties, has a nice history about Livingston, offers seeds for the livingston varieties that are still around and notes which ones are extinct.
Carolyn