64 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 315 



Varietal Improvement. During the past two years, individual records of 278 

 selected asparagus plants have been kept. These plants were selected in an attempt 

 to obtain a high-yielding strain. Of the 278 plants, 131 are females and 147 males. 

 In 1934, the females produced 9.37 stalks per plant and the males 13.82. The 

 average yield per plant was 12.22 ounces for the females and 13.48 ounces for 

 the males. Of the 10 highest yielding plants, 5 were female and 5 male. Six 

 plants that ranked in the high 10 in yield in 1934 were in the high 10 in 1933. 

 From these indications, it should be possible to obtain consistently high-yielding 

 parents which should produce high-yielding progeny. 



Seed Improvement. (Robert E. Young, Waltham.) Progress has been made 

 in the improvement of the French Horticultural bean and samples of the seed will 

 be distributed to bean growers throughout the State. The stock seed crop proved 

 to be a highly colored bean, a large proportion of which was ready for harvest 

 at the same time. In comparison with one of the best commercial strains, the 

 Field Station strain produced larger beans and a greater total yield by 10 percent. 

 The bean crop this past season was remarkably free from the bacterial blight 

 disease that was so prevalent a year ago. 



Sixty-six samples of Waltham Beauty pepper seed were distributed to growers 

 last year. In response to a questionnaire sent these growers, 54 returned cards 

 giving information regarding the crop. Analyses of these results show that 43 

 growers considered the yield of the pepper satisfactory, and 38 considered the 

 pepper better than any commercial variety they had grown. Samples of seed will 

 be available in 1935. Arrangements will be made for a commercial crop of seed 

 since most of the growers trying it felt that it was a definite and desirable addition 

 to the pepper variety list. The pepper was exhibited at the Fall Vegetable Show 

 of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and was given an Award of Merit. 



Selfing strains of Blue Hubbard Squash for the past few years has resulted in a 

 very uniform strain this past season. During this selfing it seemed impossible to 

 maintain the roughness of the skin that is so desirable in squash for Massachu- 

 setts markets. The color, hardness of rind, thickness and color of flesh, and 

 yield, were satisfactory. The shape was approximately desirable. Crossing will be 

 necessary to produce the exact type desired. 



Considerable improvement was noticed in the stock seed of the Field Station 

 strain of Hutchinson carrot. The particular character on which improvement is 

 being attempted is the interior color. Crosses with darker varieties were made 

 in the greenhouse in the spring of 1934. The seed was planted outside for a fall 

 crop. The majority of these Fj roots showed a much darker color than the reg- 

 ular strain. Excellent individual roots from regular stock seed were selfed during 

 the past season in an attempt to further improve the uniformity of the roots. 

 There continues to be a strong demand for seed of the Field Station strain of 

 Hutchinson carrot from the local market gardeners association. 



At the request of some of the local market gardeners, selfed selections of Bel- 

 May lettuce have been made and grown to improve the appearance of the lettuce. 

 Since the lettuce is packed for market with the head down, it is necessary for the 

 bottom leaves to completely overlap. If the leaves do not overlap where attached 

 to the stem, the head will not have the appearance of solidity regardless of how 

 solid it may really be. Selfed lines now being grown show considerable improve- 

 ment in regard to this character, as compared with the regular strain of this 

 lettuce. 



The Field Station strain of Comet tomato for greenhouse culture has gained 

 in popularity in the past year. Both selection and crosses have been made to 



