ANNUAL REPORT, 1937 81 



fruit produced. During the past season some varieties produced as low as 16 

 percent number one fruit, while practically all the Station strains were above 

 50 percent, and a few produced 75 percent number one fruit. Further testing 

 will be necessary before either of these varieties can be recommended with as- 

 surance. 



Hutchinson Carrot. The supply of stock seed of the Station's strain of this 

 carrot was maintained and increased. The use of this carrot has increased slightly 

 during the year. Most market gardeners have expressed satisfaction with the 

 carrot, but from the, standpoint of consumers a better core and internal color 

 would be an improvement. ¥ ^ generation hybrids of Hutchinson crossed with a 

 dark-colored selection of Tendersweet produced a very good colored crop of the 

 same shape as Hutchinson. Due to the biennial habit of the carrot it will require 

 several years to obtain a uniform strain. In testing carrot seed collected by the 

 Bureau of Foreign Plant Introduction, one lot of seed was found that had excep- 

 tionally good color and a long root. A hybrid between this carrot and the Hutchin- 

 son carrot should have an extra small core of very good color. 



Wyman Crosby Beet. The Field Station strain of Wyman Crosby beet has been 

 perfected to the point where all characters are sufficiently satisfactory except the 

 internal color. This beet when grown in the hot weather produces a high per- 

 centage of poorly colored beets; when grown in the cool weather of the fall, almost 

 all of the beets are of a satisfactory color. Since the beet is a biennial and must 

 be stored over winter, selection in the past has been made in the fall thus making 

 improvement in color practically impossible. The method of selection has now 

 been changed; the use of cold storage and the greenhouse has permitted the pro- 

 duction of a crop during the summer. Approximately 90 percent of the roots were 

 discarded in an effort to produce better color in future generations. 



Cucurbita Pepo. No further progress has been made during the year in determin- 

 ing the genetics of the soft seeded character in some pepo crosses, due to the poor 

 crop produced during the summer. This character does not seem to behave in a 

 simple Mendelian manner, and the actual behavior has not been determined. 



Rutabaga or Cape Turnip. At the request of growers in Bristol County, a large 

 number of strains and varieties of rutabaga were collected for trial. Several of 

 these were growers' strains obtained on the Cape and in Bristol County. It was 

 determined that the growers' strains of white rutabaga were superior to any 

 obtainable from seedsmen. This was probably due to the lack of importance of 

 white rutabaga to the seedsmen. There is a lack of uniformity in all the strains of 

 white rutabaga. Several seedsmen have fine strains of yellow rutabaga. 



Greenhouse Cucumber. Powdery mildew on cucumbers is a serious disease of 

 the greenhouse crop and a disease-resistant strain would be very desirable. In 

 cooperation with Dr. Cuba, Field Station Pathologist, 265 strains and varieties of 

 Cucumis, imported and collected by the Bureau of Foreign Plant Introduction, 

 were tested for resistance to mildew. No Cucumis sativus were found resistant 

 although several Cucumis melo var. Flexuosus were resistant to cucumber mildew. 



Blue Hubbard Squash. Very little progress has been made this season toward 

 producing a good strain of Blue Hubbard Squash, due to the failure of most of the 

 self-pollinated blossoms to develop. This lack of fertilization of the blossoms was 

 due to the hot, dry weather that prevailed during pollination. However, it was 

 determined from the yield data that growers' strain A is almost twice as good in a 

 cross as growers' strain B. This elimination of many hybrids will permit a more 

 concentrated effort on the desirable strains. 



