56 CONTROL SERIES No. 



Type and Variety Studies of Vegetables 



Conducted in Conjunction with the Department of Vegetable Gardening 

 Professor Grant B. Snyder 



A large majority of home gardeners buy their vegetable seeds from the 

 neighborhood store. The commercial grower may also buy from this source if he 

 runs short or has forgotten to order a certain crop from his regular seedsman . 

 These various stores and shops in the neighborhood community are, therefore, 

 important sources of garden seeds. 



Seeds, with most of these stores, are a side line. The person selling them has 

 little or no knowledge of what is being sold other than the information printed 

 on the packet and the price. The conditions under which the seed is stored 

 and displayed are too frequently very poor, resulting in poor germination when 

 planted in the garden. Most of the varieties sold are standard sorts. Newer 

 improved varieties are generally not listed. 



It has been found that in a fair percentage of cases, seed purchased from these 

 sources has been variable in germination and in trueness to name. In order to 

 definitely check the performance of packet and bulk seed sold by these mer- 

 chants, the Department of Vegetable Gardening has cooperated with the Seed 

 Laboratory in making germination tests and in checking the trueness to name of 

 samples purchased on the open market by state inspectors. 



Some 150 lots of seed were included in the field trials. These consist of 

 beans, beets, carrots, lettuce, onions, parsnips, radishes, spinach, squash and 

 turnips. 



Field notes on germination indicated fairly good vitality of practically all lots. 



The various lots were mostly within the type range for the variety specified 

 on the seed package. One source, however, (Lake Shore Seed Company of 

 Dunkirk, N. Y.) was very poor, for practically all lots included in the trials 

 showing marked variation in type and maturity as well as disease susceptibility. 



Results of the field trials are qualified as being "satisfactory" when true to 

 the name of variety on the seed packet; "fair" when only a small percentage 

 of variation from the type occurs, or when the type is poor for the name on the 

 packet; and "poor" where a wide variation from the type of the variety given 

 on the packet occurs, extreme variation of growth exists, or mosaic disease 

 carried by the seed severely reduces yield or value of the crop. 



