J. 



A. F. Yeager with Horticulture students 



was used to make sterile hybrids fer- 

 tile; in others seeds were irradiated to 

 increase variability; or a diploid x tet- 

 raploid cross was used to produce a 

 triploid, thus creating new genetic 

 material. Yeager and Meader contin- 

 ued leadership, but several graduate 

 students were involved in originating 

 the new vegetable varieties. Moreover, 

 L. P. Latimer contributed to the fruit 

 breeding, and E. D. Risley, R. B. Pike 

 and O. M. Rogers to improving and 

 developing ornamentals. 



By 1961 , approximately 100 plant 

 varieties had been introduced by the 

 Station (a few by number for trial only). 

 Included in the vegetable category was 

 the 'Doublerich' tomato with twice the 

 vitamin C content of ordinary toma- 



toes, the red-fleshed 'Sweetheart' beet 

 with sugar content comparable to that 

 of the sugarbeet, and the 'Golden 

 Midget' watermelon with its built-in 

 indicator of ripeness — it turns from 

 green to yellow. But some of the re- 

 search underlying development of a 

 new variety produced unexpected 

 results. While attempting to breed a 

 hardy hybrid peach, Yeager found that 

 the color of the peach seedling, even 

 before emerging from the soil, would 

 be either white or yellow, and directly 

 associated with the color of the flesh of 

 the fruit at maturity. Because the con- 

 sumer insists on a yellow-fleshed 

 peach, the white seedlings are dis- 

 carded and the cost of peach breeding 

 is greatly reduced. 



38 



