78 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 369 



progressed to only the third generation, several lines appeared to be quite uniform 

 during the past growing season. 



Cultural Practices Prior to Field Setting as Influencing Yield and Quality of 

 Peppers. (W. H. Lachman.) This project was started last year in an effort to 

 determine the effect that different methods of handling plants prior to field setting 

 might have upon the earliness, yield, and quality of the fruits produced. The 

 Waltham Beauty strain of pepper has been used throughout the test. 



Plants grown in clay pots until time for field transplanting consistently out- 

 yielded plants receiving all other treatments. Nutrient solutions at the rate of 

 one pint per plant added at the time of field transplanting markedly increased 

 both the early and total yield with all the basic treatments. 



V'ariety Studies. (W. H. Lachman.) These studies were begun last year in 

 cooperation with the Rhode Island and Connecticut Experiment Stations. The 

 object of the work is to determine the influence of the various climatic and edaphic 

 factors upon the general adaptability of several strains and varieties of snap 

 beans, celery, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, and sweet corn. It is planned to 

 continue this project for five years, and as yet no general conclusions have been 

 drawn. 



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



Varietal Improvement. The most important information obtained from a study 

 of the field records of 278 selected asparagus plants is that the high-yielding 

 plants selected as parents for new strains have continued to remain high yielding 

 throughout seven cutting seasons. A paper by G. C. Hanna of the California 

 Agricultural Experiment Station indicates that asparagus plants may yield 

 heavily the first few years only to become mediocre later. Only one of the parents 

 of the five new strains of asparagus now under culture at Waltham has shown 

 any tendency to fall off in yield. 



In 1937, five rows of asparagus plants from the selected parents were planted. 

 These plants produced a larger number of stalks during the first summer than in 

 either of the two succeeding years. The number of stalks per plant was reduced 

 considerably this past year, probably because of their being harvested and of 

 the extremely dry season. While these plants were cut for only two weeks for 

 the first harvest, the records give some indication of which rows are superior. 

 Rows 1 and 4 have produced a large number of spears per plant. During the 

 past three summers, they also produced the largest number of stalks per plant 

 during the summer season. The rows that produced the largest number of 

 spears per plant also had the highest yield in pounds per plant. All the rows 

 of the new asparagus planting gave better yields than a commercial strain planted 

 for comparison, the two best strains producing over twice as much. 



Of the best twelve plants out of 450, selected on the basis of the number of 

 spears produced, four were female and eight were male. When ranked on the 

 basis of weight, nine were female and three were male. Most of these high- 

 yielding plants were from the two highest-yielding strains. 



Depth of Planting and Height of Cutting. The yield of the depth-of-planting 

 plots returned to normal this year after having been very low the previous season. 

 There has been no change in the relationship of the yields; the plots where the 

 roots were planted 2 inches deep gave the best yields, followed respectively by 

 those planted 4 inches, 8 inches, and 6 inches. This rank is in direct relationship 

 to the number of plants remaining in the plots except for those where the roots 

 were planted 8 inches deep. 



In October of 1939 the asparagus tops were removed and the land leveled. 

 After a period during which the soil settled, the asparagus crowns were examined 

 and their depth determined. Roots originally planted 2 inches deep were found 



