ANNUAL REPORT, 1936 77 



Cucurbita Pepo. Certain crosses in Cucurbita Pepo were made last year and 

 when grown during 1936 indicated that the hard seed character is dominant over 

 the soft seed character. It has not been determined whether this dominance 

 is complete or partial, nor the genetical segregation. Crosses between golden 

 straight neck and soft seeded parent give promise of producing a summer 

 squash that contains seed of less prominence in the edible stage. 



Trellis Tomato Experiments. (Robert E. Young, Paul W. Dempsey, 

 and Harold A. Wilson, Waltham, and Alden Tuttle.) Preliminary studies in 

 methods of producing trellis tomatoes were made at both Waltham and 

 Amherst. These studies indicate that training plants to a single stem produces 

 the largest yield. If the plants are trained to two stems, as most growers now 

 train them, the use of potted plants gives a slight increase over plants grown 

 in beds. Of considerable influence on the total yield is the amount of manure 

 used on the land. The use of a fertilizer in which three-fourths of the nitrogen 

 was in organic form was of considerable importance in increasing the yield. 



In the production of fruit early in the season, training plants to a single 

 stem and the use of potted plants were the two most important factors. Con- 

 sidering the fact that the price received for fruit from the first four pickings was 

 double that received for the remainder of the crop, the amount of fruit pro- 

 duced early in the season has considerable bearing on the financial success of 

 the tomato crop. 



The percentage of the various grades of fruit was not materially influenced 

 by the treatment. 



Pascal Celery Storage. (Robert E. Young, Waltham.) The results ob- 

 tained this year agree with those of the previous experiment, and show that 

 the loss now occurring in growers' storage pits may be lessened and the keeping 

 prolonged by packing the celery about three-fourths as tightly as is now the 

 practice. Aeration, evaporation, and heat loss are greatly increased by the 

 loose pack. 



Cutting off the tops of the celery plant and treating the cut tissue with 

 fungicides to prevent rotting was not successful this past year, probably due 

 to lack of proper handling during the re-growing period. 



Lowering the humidity in the storage room by the use of cold outside air 

 caused wilting of the top leaves although it did not greatly affect the amount 

 of marketable celery obtained from the compartment. 



The results of a comparison of large plants with small ones indicate that the 

 larger the plants are, the larger the marketable stalks are after storage. 



DEPARTMENT OF POMOLOGY 

 R. A. Van Meter in Charge 



Severe weather during the past year again caused damage to fruit crops. 

 The winter cold was less severe than for the past two years however, and there 

 was a good crop of peaches after two years of crop failure. Spring frosts ruined 

 the crop in a few orchards in the State not favored with good air drainage, but 

 no damage was done to the station orchards. The apple crop was about 25 

 percent larger than that of 1935. 



