SEED INSPECTION 83 



TYPE AND VARIETY STUDIES OF VEGETABLES 



Conducted in Conjunction with the Department of Olericulture, 

 Grant B. Snyder, Professor 



Many people who grow vegetables either on a commercial basis or in the home 

 garden buy their seed from the neighborhood store. These stores and shops 

 in the neighborhood community are, therefore, important sources of garden 

 seeds. The salesmen in such stores very frequently are not well acquainted with 

 variety type, germination, and maturity season of the seeds they sell. In order 

 to check on the performance of packet and bulk seed sold by these merchants, 

 the Department of Olericulture has cooperated with the Seed Laboratory in 

 making germination tests and in checking the trueness to name and performance 

 of samples purchased on the open market by State Seed Inspectors. 



During the 1939 season 193 lots were planted in the trial grounds, including 

 sweet corn, squash, cucumbers, rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, parsley, onions, 

 carrots, beets, beans, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and broccoli. 



The soil of the trial plots was of a sandy loam type. It was fertilized properly 

 and thoroughly prepared prior to seedage or plant setting. The growing season 

 was somewhat variable in that June and July were very dry and August most 

 nearly normal as to rainfall. The dry weather may have had some bearing on 

 seed germination of some of the kinds of vegetables planted. 



In general the field germination of most lots was sufficient to produce a satis- 

 factory stand of plants. On the other hand, germination of cucumbers was 

 only fair; of parsnips mainly fair to poor; of onions mostly poor; and of carrots 

 fair to good. A rather wide range of germination was noted in the same varieties 

 planted under identical conditions, indicating either poor seed or improper 

 storage conditions in transit or in the store where they were sold. 



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

 on the seed packet. Some lots showed more variation in type than was desirable, 

 but could not be considered definitely off type. Other lots were definitely not 

 true to type. 



Only those lots of seed which were found to be slightly or definitely off type are 

 included in the following table. The percentages listed mean actual numbers of 

 plants that were within the type range and developed, for the variety in question, 

 a reasonably satisfactory plant. The source of the seed and the laboratory germin- 

 ation records are to be found in the table on pages 47 to 82, where the lots of 

 seed used in the field tests are identified by the letter "F" added to the laboratory 

 number. Those seeds tested in the field and not included in the following table 

 were found 100% true to type. 



