82 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 388 



Tri-State Cooperative Vegetable Variety Project. (G. B. Snyder and W. H. 

 Lachman.) This project is conducted in cooperation with the Rhode Island 

 and Connecticut Experirnent Stations. The object is to ascertain the influence 

 of the various climatic and edaphic factors upon several strains of beans, sweet 

 corn, peppers, cabbage, celery, tomatoes, and carrots. The data for four years 

 are now being summarized. 



Bean Culture. (W. H. Lachman and G. B. Snyder.) One of the limiting factors 

 in the culture of lima beans has been the sparse stand of plants obtained because 

 of poor germination. A rather comprehensive test was made of the value of 

 "Spergon," a commercial preparation used as a dust on the seed. The seed 

 treatment increased the germination about 25 percent and the treated plants 

 were more robust and healthy than the untreated lots. 



A number of varieties of edible soy beans have been tested for two years. 

 The varieties "Giant Green" and "Willomi" performed especially well and have a 

 very pleasing flavor. One of the reasons why the public has hesitated to accept 

 soy beans as a vegetable is because they are so difficult to shell. It has been 

 found that the beans shell very easily if they are first boiled for about three 

 minutes. The beans can then be cooked and served much the same as lima beans. 



Asparagus Investigations. (Robert E. Young, Waltham.) The yields of 450 

 plants in five different lines derived from previous selections were in a somewhat 

 different order from those of last year. The yields did not increase as would 

 be expected for asparagus plants that have been cut only two full cutting seasons. 

 The strain that produced the greatest yield last year was second in 194L 



Although the production of the best strain was about double that of the poorest 

 strain and of plants from commercial seed growing alongside, the results of these 

 individual cutting records show that there is a wide variation in the performance 

 of the plants of even the best strain. That the yield can be doubled in one gen- 

 eration establishes great possibilities in asparagus breeding. 



Increasing the yield gave a slight increase in the percentage of extra large stalks, 

 and a slight increase in the average weight. In checking the performance of the 

 25 highest yielding plants it was found that there was a great variation in the 

 type of spears produced. Some plants produced very few large spears but many 

 small ones, while others giving as much in total yield produced mostly large-sized 

 stalks, although when the strains were taken as a whole this difference did not 

 show to any great extent. In the best strain 24 percent of the plants produced 

 a bunch of asparagus (1.25 pounds), while in the commercial strain only 2.5 

 percent produced as much. 



At the time of the fall stalk count, quite a number of plants had rust in varying 

 degrees of severity, including the commercial line of Mary Washington, sup- 

 posedly rust resistant. The percentage of rust present in the selected strains 

 in the order of their yield was 14.2, 17.0, 13.0, 5.0, 3.3, compared to 39.7 percent 

 for the commercial strain. This would indicate that progress can be made in 

 obtaining not only better yield but also better resistance to the rust disease. 



The various characteristics of yield, size, bud shape, height of branching, 

 spreading of tips, and color are so variable that new selections will be made next 

 year to secure more uniformity. 



Vegetable Breeding for Improvement of Quality. (Robert E. Young, Waltham.) 



Trellis Tomato. The program of developing better internal and external fruit 

 quality in our two strains of trellis tonaatoes has been continued. For reasons not 

 wholly understood, the yield of the 1941 tomato crop was only about 50 percent 

 of last year's although the plants set and the care given were better. Poor tomato 

 crops were reported all along the eastern seaboard. The dry weather, no doubt, 



