364 NEW JERSEY STATE AGRICULTURAL 



Row 10. Here an attempt was made to breed the "Black" 

 upon the wild species but the result was a failure. 



Row II. This row was occupied with a set of the "Black"^ 

 salsify for the purposes of further attempts at breeding. 



The test of the present year illustrates that close breeding, that 

 is, within the plant and more within the head, is sufficient to per- 

 petuate the particular shade of the parent among hybrids that 

 have been selected somewhat at random from many color types. 



The union of two species of salsify, both with very uniform 

 and widely different colors of the bloom, results in the production 

 of a great many shades in the flowers of the hybrids. It seems 

 probable that any one oi these may be fixed with much ease by 

 simply limiting the fecundation to the plant carrying the shade it 

 is desired to perpetuate. 



Because of the unusual difficulties that have beset the experi- 

 ment from its beginning some years ago and the lack of direct 

 practical results the work with salsify is for the present set aside. 

 Anyone, however, who wishes to make a study of the floral colors 

 of hybrids can find few better species for that purpose than the 

 wild and garden salsify, provided the weediness of the crop is 

 nO' disadvantage and birds can be kept from the plants at the time 

 when the heads are maturing their fruits. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH OKRA. 



The plan was laid to grow a full set of the okras the present 

 season and begin a systematic breeding of the various kinds, a 

 classification of which was given in the last report (pp. 501, 502), 

 but the seeds gathered in from various sources quite generally 

 failed. One is not certain of what he has as a basis for breeding 

 operations in truck crops until he has tested it for some years, 

 and this seems to be particularly true with okras. It is possible 

 that the usual care taken by the best seedsmen to have their goods 

 true to name does not bring the desired results with okra, and it 

 may be that the plants themselves are largely at fault. The 

 subject certainly demands study, as it does more consideration 

 from the hands of the practical grower. Be this as it may, the 



