Report of the Botanist. 



BYRON D. HALSTED, SC.D. 

 EARLE J. OWEN, M.S., AND NAHUM D. SHORE, B.S.,* ASSISTANTS. 



For the year ending November 30th, 1907, the Botanical De- 

 partment has been working chiefly along the general line of the 

 improvement of truck crops. The test includes sweet corn, to- 

 matoes, eggplants, Lima beans, snap beans, summer squashes, 

 winter squashes, peas, okra, onions and salsify, to which is added 

 some ornamental plants. 



The work with sweet corn has been much influenced by the 

 very unusual season, particularly the first portion, when all early 

 plantings were either destroyed or badly injured. The block of 

 "Malamo" corn grown upon the Home Grounds was low in stat- 

 ure and small in crop ; and the same terms characterize the block 

 of "Malakosby." The later sorts, where the land was sufficiently 

 rich, yielded fairly well, and some crosses were so satisfactory that 

 seeds will be offered for trial to the truckers of the state. The 

 cross that has been the most productive of all is the "Golden Ban- 

 tam-Premier" (34/70). Last season the stalks often produced 

 twin ears as Plate III. illustrates in the Report for that year. 

 What with the plants strong, of good height and the ears fre- 

 quently twins, of good shape and fine quality of kernels, this 

 sort may prove acceptable for the second early crop. The "Adams- 

 Crosby" cross has been carried forward another year, so that now 

 the sweet corn has been separated from the flint (dent) grains 

 of the "Adams." The plants have much of the sturdiness of 



* From June 15th. 



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