PHONY TOMATOES

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25607, 23 September 1948, Page 2

PHONY TOMATOES

Sir,—-There have been so many criticisms of Lysenko that the article printed on Monday,* with its cheajo ridicule, makes one wonder if the Russian may not have something after all. It is a pity that the unnamed western scientist who “acquired” the famous wax tomato lacked the stature which would have enabled him to read the inscription around the bowl. It was “Suck me,” in a Slavish imitation of Tenniel’s script.—Yours, etc., VARIAN J. WILSON. September 21, 1948

Sir, —The lucrative opportunities Offered by journalism to mental prostitutes are nowhere greater'than in the United States of America; and the article you reprint from the “New York Herald Tribune” is typical of the kind df stuff being fed to a gullible public there and elsewhere, With the purpose of building prejudice against the U.S.S.R. However, it is not possible to fool all the people all the time, and excessive statement brings its reaction. As regards the tomato in question, wax models of new developments with this fruit suggest rather a method of practical and scientific record on the part of Lysenko. Stich models from originals are permanent meaqs of comparison for the maintenance of a new strain or on the line of its further improvement; moreover, the seed would be required from the original fruits, which would be destroyed in the extraction.—Yours/etc.', -•— A.H.S. September 22, 1948.