ANNUAL REPORT, 1937 79 



Shape Index Studies of Tomatoes. (W. L. Lachman.) A study of ten strains of 

 tomatoes on a quantitative basis revealed that there were no consistent changes 

 in the shape of fruits during the season. A random sample of twenty-five fruits 

 proved to be sufficient to accurately describe the shape of these varieties at any 

 given period of time. There was a tendency for the largest fruits to be the flattest 

 and at the same time the most irregular and ribbed. 



Asparagus Investigations. (Robert E. Young, Waltham.) 



Varietal Improvement. Individual harvest records for the selected asparagus 

 plants were obtained, and these data completed the records necessary to correlate 

 the relationship between the number of stalks produced during summer growth 

 and the subsequent number and weight of spears produced during the next 

 cutting season. There was found to be a very close relationship between growth 

 and yield. This association permits the asparagus seed grower to select seed from 

 the high-producing plants, thus making an improvement in the strain. The 

 results of this investigation on relationship between growth and yield were pre- 

 sented for publication in Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. Proc. 34, 1937. 



Depth of Planting and Height of Cutting. There has been no change in the 

 efTect of the depth of planting on the yield of asparagus in this experiment during 

 the last two years. This past season there was no difference in yield when the 

 asparagus spears were cut with 8 inches of green or with 12 inches of green. The 

 yield from the plot cut with 4 inches of green was considerably less than that for 

 the other two plots. 



The length of spear and production for the past season was as follows: 



The data indicate that the asparagus plant continues to send up spears until 

 all the reserve food is exhausted. The number of spears that plants will produce 

 seems to depend on the size of the spear and the length to which it is allowed to 

 grow. If the spears are cut too short, there is an insufficient number of buds on the 

 asparagus crown to utilize all the reserve food supply of the plant. 



Pascal Celery Storage. (Robert E. Young, Waltham.) The results of the 

 storage experiments conducted during the past season confirm earlier results. 

 Two experiments were conducted in growers' pits to determine whether results 

 could be obtained under commercial storage similar to those obtained in the ex- 

 perimental storage. One of the growers obtained a 10 percent increase in market- 

 able celery where the plants were packed loosely. This celery would have kept 

 considerably longer had it been left in the pit. Celery packed in the regular 

 way was mature and beginning to decay, at the time it was cleaned for market. 

 Similar results were obtained in the other grower's pit except that the celery did 

 not keep quite as well due to a different method of storage. 



In the storage pit at the Station, the yield of marketable celery was almost one 

 third greater when the celery was packed in the pit loosely enough to permit 

 circulation of air than when it was packed tightly, as in commercial practice. 



A paper presenting some of the results of heart growth studies with pascal 

 celery has been published in Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. Proc. 34, 1937. 



