642 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



by all who grow this crop cijiniiiercially. The total yield per acre 

 ranged from 4.13 tons to 9.15 tons, or a difference of 5.02 tons. We 

 have every reason to believe that this difference was solely due 1o Ihe 

 dift'eience in seed. 



From what has been said some may feel rhat we have been making 

 an attack of the seedsmen. Nothing could be further from (he 

 truth. On 1he other hand, the work has Ijeea examined and heailily 

 approved by some of the best seedsmen of the country who are very 

 glad to secure any information as to how they can better serve their 

 customers. 



During the past season while one of these seedsmen was; visiting 

 the experiments he remarked that as a whole few of the tests showed 

 the uniformity that is desirable. He pointed to one strain Avhich 

 was very undesirable and commented on its inferiority. When I 

 told him that it was his strain he was very much surprised and 

 said although it was a great disappointment to h.im, yet he wanted to 

 know the facts He_said that he had paid an extra price for this 

 seed with the request that the seed grower give him the best that 

 could be produced. Naturally he would be chagrined when the seed 

 produced the plants grown in this test. In justice to this seedsman 

 1 may say that strains of other varieties secured from him have been 

 very good and his strain of Early Spring was next to the best in 

 the test. I have every reason to believe that he used his best efforts 

 to secure good seed in each case but in the one instance he was dis- 

 appointed. 



The test of Charleston Wakefield has been interesting in that 

 in many instances there is little if any noticeable difference between 

 it and the same strain of Jersey Wakefield. This is not especially 

 important since the Charleston Wakefield is of the same general 

 type, the chief difference being that of size (as it is a little later in 

 maturing) a difference which appaiently is not always present. 



The test of the variety Early Spring shows several strains that 

 are materially lacking in uniformity. This may be seen from the 

 slide. 



The next slide show's a plant typical of one of these poorly bred 

 strain.s, while the next slide shows a Avell bred plant such as may be 

 found in some of the best strains. Several of the strains are a mix- 

 ture of one or more varieties. One is Jersey Wakefield, and two 

 are Early Summer. It is possible that some of these are due to 

 error, but in one case Early Summer is known to have been sold for 

 Early Spring. Eriors may be pardoned, but the seedsman who de- 

 liberately substitutes without informing his customer of the fact is 

 deserving of but little sympathy. 



The slides which follow show the relative earliness and yield of 

 the various strains. We see that in some cases only a few of the 

 fifty plants have yet matured heads, while in another case 49 of the 

 fifty heads were cut at the first cutting. The yield per acre of the 

 first cutting varied from 1.53 tons, as represented by the poorest 

 strain to 14.58 tons as represented by the best. The total yield varied 

 from 6 to 15 tons. The test of the late varieties has shown less 

 variation than is found in the varieties just discussed. A fact of 

 interest, however, is that there is considerable difference between 

 strains and varieties as regards resistence to disease. Of the varie- 

 ties we have tested, Houser seems to be the most resistant. 



