Mortgage Lifter

Developed in the early 1940's in West Virginia by a radiator repairman, M.C. "Radiator Charlie" Byles. Without any experience in breeding, he made a successful cross of four of the largest tomatoes he could find - German Johnson, Beefsteak, an Italian variety, and an English variety. Customers drove up to 200 miles for his famous plants that bore tasty tomatoes averaging two and a half pounds. With these sales, Charlie managed to pay off his $6, 000 mortgage in only six years, and so the tomato was named Mortgage Lifter. This large, meaty, mild-flavored tomato has few seeds and is the perfect tomato-sandwich tomato. Plants bear pinkish-red, two and a half to four pound tomatoes all summer long. (Indeterminate, 80 days)