Report of the Botanist* 



Byron D. Halsted, Sc.D. 

 Earle J. Owen, B.S., and J. K. Shaw, B.S., Assistants. 



Plant breeding has been a leachng feature of the work in the 

 Botanical Department, for the year ending Xovember 30, 1904, 

 and along lines mentioned in the annual reports for some time 

 past. 



During the year the "Voorhees Red" sweet corn has been sent 

 out to four hundred persons and from these many satisfactory 

 replies have been received. A year of substantial progress has 

 been made in the cross between the "Black Mexican'' and 

 "Country Gentleman" sweet corn and two new varieties from 

 these reciprocal crosses are in sight. A very full list of sweet 

 corns have been grown the present season and many crosses se- 

 cured, some of which among the superior sorts it is hoped will be 

 a material gain. A very early sweet corn may be had without re- 

 sort to the two frequent method, now in vogue, of growing a 

 dwarf dent or flint sort for the early crop. 



A full list of beans has been grown, including the wax and 

 green-podded bush beans, and the pole, and dwarf limas. The 

 crosses among the last named \arieties have given at least two 

 sorts that after five years of selection are ready for distribution. 

 Many crosses have been secured this season among the wax varie- 

 ties and also among the 'green-podded sorts with indications that 

 some success has attained the attempts to breed the wax and 

 green-podded varieties together and these and the lima beans. 



A considerable portion of the Experiment Grounds has been 

 devoted to the work with tomatoes. Nearly all the commercial 

 varieties have been grown for the purpose of selecting the best 

 sorts for further work in breeding. Many crosses over a wide 

 range of varieties have been secured. Opportunity was offered 

 for a study of the earliness and other characteristics of many 

 varieties as also a comparison of their yield under the uniform 

 conditions that obtained u])()n tlie trial grouncN. The "Station 



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