ANNUAL REPORT, 1935 67 



so far to secure a beet that has deep internal color along with earliness, uni- 

 formity, and good external appearance. 



Blue Hubbard Squash. Six selfed lines of Blue Hubbard squash were com- 

 pared with two strains grown by leading squash growers. Under our conditions 

 the selfed lines were superior in yield and had a better color and a harder shell, 

 but did not have as desirable shape, nor were they as warted as many growers 

 consider ideal for market squash. Crosses were made between selfed lines and 

 also between selfed lines and the commercial strains in an attempt to improve 

 the shape and regain some of the vigor of vine growth lost during the selfing. 

 The selfed lines produced a large number of small to medium sized, very uni- 

 form squash as compared to the very mixed lot found in most commercial 

 strains. 



Cucurbita Pepo. A genetical study was undertaken during the year which 

 involves certain crosses in Cucurbita pepo between a line having a hard testa 

 such as is usually found in the common sorts and one having a soft green testa. 

 Crosses were made last year in the greenhouse, but when the seed was grown 

 outside it was found that the soft-seeded strain was not homozygous for the 

 soft-seeded character. Many plants were selfed last summer to purify the 

 strain. 



Hutchinson Carrot. The stock seed of Field Station strain of Hutchinson 

 carrot is being maintained, and efforts have been made to improve the core of 

 the carrot without sacrificing any of its desirable characters. Crosses between 

 the Hutchinson and the Tendersweet that looked so promising last season were 

 lost from rot during the spring. Approximately 500 pounds of carrot seed 

 produced from Field Station stock seed was merchandized by a farmers' asso- 

 ciation during the past year. 



Celery Storage. (Robert E. Young, Waltham.) In connection with the 

 celery storage work, experiments were conducted to determine to what extent 

 the sugars and stored materials in the outside petioles of celery moved to the 

 heart for the elongation and enlargement of the small center petioles that go 

 to make up the marketable portion of Pascal celery. It was found that there 

 was quite extensive loss of weight by the outside stalks and a gain by those in 

 the center. This loss by the outside stalks was 30 percent, of which 11.5 per- 

 cent was not accounted for by gains of the center stalks. There was some 

 rotting of the celery leaves, and it is difficult to estimate what portion of the 

 11.5 percent loss was due to rot and what was due to respiration. The celery 

 was in storage at 32° to 35° F. for over four months. Refractive indices ob- 

 tained from the expressed juice of the celery petioles indicated that there was 

 about 4 percent soluble solids in the outside petioles. The percentage gradually 

 increased in the stalk until it reached about 6.5 percent in the center. These 

 percentages did not change much as the celery remained in storage. 



The results of the celery storage experiment indicate that much of the loss 

 experienced by the growers has been due to packing the celery too tight, thus 

 preventing proper circulation of air around the lower portion of the petioles. 

 A temperature of 32° to 36° F. has proved to be the best for the storage of 

 Pascal celery. The humidity in this compartment ranged from 75 to 95 per- 

 cent and seemed to be satisfactory. By the use of refrigeration, celery was 

 kept in a marketable condition about a month after commercial celery had 

 disappeared. 



