It seems the Nix family tried to avoid tax but it did not work in a US case that does not dilute @phb’s challenge criteria.
The high court issued this 1893 tomato ruling in a case brought by members of the Nix family against Edward Hedden, collector at the Port of New York, to recover the fees they spent transporting tomatoes… The court unanimously decided that the scientific classification of a tomato doesn’t change common language. Therefore, the Tariff Act intended to tax tomatoes. And the Nix family wouldn’t get their money back. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/supreme-court-tomato-is-vegetable-2013-12
I didn’t realise so many people I know had such a tax burden.
The cousins of the tomato the eggplant and capsicum suffer the same confusion of being botanically fruits but by usage being called vegetables. I have seen a few people grab a tomato like an apple and take a big bite, one person did this with a capsicum but never an eggplant … maybe if the small white cultivar that actually looks like an egg was more common we would see this.
Naming for tax purposes has some interesting consequences. In the UK for whatever reason bread and biscuits are (were? I am not sure) taxed differently. The question is how do tell them apart. Like so much of farinaceous baked food both are based on varying proportions of the same ingredients; flour, water, fat, sugar etc. The same basic ingredients produce bread, biscuits, cookies, scones, cakes, pastries etc. Defining ranges of ingredient proportions (biscuits tend to have much more sugar and fat in proportion than breads) looked like a nightmare.
It seemed impossible to draw the line until some bright spark pointed out this is easy. Fresh bread starts out soft and gets dry and hard as it stales, biscuits start out crisp and crunchy and get soft as they stale.
No it was a friend of mine. We were in a lift and he pulled the fruit out of his coat pocket and took a bite. He offered me some but we were not that close to share fruit bite for bite.
I live in Brisbane so in our sub-tropical climate I can successfully grow tomatoes ALL year round. In fact, those grown in Autumn/Winter have far less pest and disease pressure. In our Summer heat we have to contend with Fruit Fly so the fruit has to be bagged before it starts to blush. Not a huge issue but you need to have your fruit fly traps set out to announce their arrival.
I find that the claims that peat pots break down in the soil to be over-exaggerated. I always tear the peat pot before planting it out into the garden. Sometimes the residual pot is visible in the soil 12 months later.
Seedlings can die from a fungal disease called “dampening off”. I always use a sterile mix of 1part coco coir; 1part perlite or vermiculite. If you make a big batch and store it I also pour boiling water over it just prior to use. This kills off any pests/diseases that have found their way into the mix… Once the seedlings get their first set of leaves you need to transfer them to a potting mix containing nutrients or just add half strength liquid fertilizer every 7-10 days. Water your seedlings from the bottom by placing them in a saucer/dish of the fertilizer or water. Leave them in it until the surface of the pot looks moist and drain them well. If you insist on using garden soil or potting mix to raise seedlings you can water it with an organic fungicide to prevent damping off.
