522 NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



plants they record. The lettering — if names are emploj^ed — should be 

 large and clear and lasting, that no doubt may arise from obscurity. 

 Of course, there is a plotting of each block of plants recorded in the 

 field-book of the crop, so that when labels are destroyed from any cause 

 they can be replaced with certainty. The stakes, aside from giving the 

 history of a cross by bearing the fraction above noted, are a means 

 of recording certain events as to each row. For example, herbarium 

 specimens are taken from each cross, and a mark, as "S," with a blue 

 pencil, makes a convenient record upon the spot (stake) of the fact 

 that the specimen has been secured. In the same way another mark 

 indicates that seed from some specially early plant has been saved. 

 Should it be desirable to mark the plant this may be done with a 

 wooden wire-label or a larger one of cardboard — a shipping tag — when 

 the plant is a leafy one and small labels are quickly overgrown. With 

 squashes, for example, tall, white stakes, placed close by the side of 

 plants to be designated, have proved a more acceptable guide in pol- 

 linating work than any kind of showy label that was devised. In fact, 

 among beans and tomatoes, quickly-seen stakes are a great advantage 

 in facilitating the work of getting quickly to the plants that are to 

 receive special attention. 



The following are some of the marks upon stakes and labels that 

 have been in use upon the Gardens : 



1. The Variety. The name in full with source — "Paragon" Liv. 



102 



2. The First Cross. A Fraction, the male parent as the numerator, ii3_ for 



example ("Bismarck" upon "Detroit Wax" Bean). 



210 



.3. The Compound Cross. A Compound Fraction zrw^. This shows that the 



103 

 210 



simple cross 169 » for example. "Station Yellow" tomato upon 

 "Dwarf Stone" was crossed upon a crocs of "Magnus" (75) upon 

 "Ponderosa" (103). 



4. Generation. Roman numeral below the fraction jg, for example, 



III. 

 "Black Mexican" sweet corn upon "Country Gentleman" during 

 the third year for the cross. 



