24 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 354 



The 1938 crop of tomatoes was also examined for ascorbic acid. The 22 varie- 

 ties and strains as seen in Table 7 had a higher range of ascorbic acid than in 

 1937 but results are comparable to those of 1936. On grouping the tomatoes 

 genetically the Massachusetts Field Station strains were found to be considerably 

 richer in ascorbic acid content than in 1937. Stone, Marglobe and Rutgers 

 strains were in the same relationship to each other, but, as in the other cases, 

 were higher in ascorbic acid content than those of 1937 and were comparable to 

 those of 1936. 



Table 7. — Ascorbic Acid Content of 22 Varieties and Strains of Tomatoes 



(1938 Crop) 



Variety and Strain 



IC Mass. Field Station, 1937-20 



IE 1937-24M. F. S. x Baltimore. F 4. . . . 



1 VValtham Forcing, M. F. S 



ID Mass. Field Station, 1937-18 



IB Mas.s. Field Station, 1937-16 



lA Mass. Field Station, 1937-19 



Average all Field Station strains 



37 Stone, Eastern States 



36 Stone. Livingston 



Average all Stone strains 



43 Master Marglobe, Stokes 



42 Master Marglobe, F. H. Woodruff. . . , 



46 Marglobe, Eastern States 



47 Marglobe, Landreth 



.Average all Marglobe strains 



49 Rutgers. Stokes 



48 Rutgers, Landreth 



Average all Rutgers strains 



13 Lister's Protection. Grey 



2 Cornet, Grey 



4 Mich. State Forcing, Grand Rapids. . , 



55 Globe, Livingston 



32 Scarlet Dawn, Comstock-Ferre 



6 Grand Rapids Forcing, Grand Rapids 



40 Greater Baltimore, F. H. Woodruff. . . 



27 Bonny Best, Henderson 



♦Standard Deviation from the mean. 



Table 8 compares the identical strains and varieties of the 1936, 1937, and 1938 

 growing seasons. Although many factors influence growth, three years of ex- 

 perimental evidence tend to show that the ascorbic acid potency in tomatoes 

 may be an inherited characteristic. 



