KEEPING TOMATOES SIR,—Like your correspondent Mr. J. M. Wadsworth, I
followed the advice of the Doctor-Gardener in the hope that I should be able to extend the tomato season. I picked my green tomatoes and divided them into three parts. One part I put into a large square biscuit tin, carefully packing them with sawdust so that they did not touch one another or the tin. 1 then filled the tin with sawdust and placed the lid on it. A week ago curiosity compelled me to open the box and examine the tomatoes. I found that the majority of the tomatoes had begun to putrefy; the remainder were soft and were covered with small blisters, some black and some whitish; the tomatoes had a most unpleasant and bitter taste; they were useless. The second part I put into a large open dish, putting the sawdust between the toma- toes to prevent them touching one another or the sides of the dish. The- sawdust used was taken from the same pile as that used in the tin. These tomatoes were uncovered at the same time as those in the tin. They were beginning to colour and showed no signs of deterioration. The third part were placed on a blanket in a box and covered with a blanket so as to exclude the light. When these were examined at the same time as the others they had commenced to yellow and showed no sign of deterioration. All the tomatoes were subjected to the same temperature. I should be interested to hear -the explanation of the Doctor-Gardener for my failure As obtain
. [A number of correspondents have written to the same effect.— ED., The Spectator.]
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