40 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 293 



Roses seem to give a better yield and make more vigorous growth where organic 

 materials are used than when fed with straight commercial fertilizers. High 

 application of chemical fertilizer reduces production and vigor of the plants. 



Breeding Snapdragons for Varietal Improvement and Disease Resistance. 



(Harold E. W hite, Waltham.) In the Fi generation there was no consistent seg- 

 regation for rust resistance sufficient for definite determination of the resistance 

 factor. For most of the inbred lines studied, resistance to susceptibility approach- 

 ed a 1:1 ratio. With the F2 generation resistance increased and, while the per- 

 centage varied, there was an approximate ratio of three resistant to one susceptible 

 for total resistance. Resistance was so variable that color could not be correlated 

 with resistance. Commercial strains which have been used for breeding have 

 continued to show complete susceptibility to rust. Crossing commercial strains, 

 while resulting in increased vigor, did not make the progeny less susceptible. 

 Resistant strains crossed with pink varieties have resulted in complete suscepti- 

 bility, even in the F2 generation. 



Double-crossed progeny in the Fi generation did not show noticeably increased 

 resistance to rust over the single-crossed progeny. The ratio of resistant to 

 susceptible plants in the Fi generation in both crosses was about the same. Suscep- 

 tible strains in the F2 generation gave all susceptible progeny. Susceptible plants 

 from the Fi generation continued to breed true for susceptibility in the F2 genera- 

 tion. Between eight and ten thousand plants were grown in the F2 generation 

 test; selections from these strains are being carried on for the F3 generation. 



DEPARTMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

 Bernice Wait in Charge 



The Comparative Value of Milk and Tomato for Supplementary Feeding 

 in Elementary Schools. (B. Wait and M. V. Cowing.) For the past three 

 years the children in a small consolidated rural school have been given a supplemen- 

 tary mid-morning feeding at first of either milk or tomato and later of a combina- 

 tion of evaporated milk and tomato juice. The study is being continued for a 

 fourth year by feeding the children of a control school to ascertain whether any 

 results of the feeding which seemed apparent can be duplicated in this latter group. 

 Whether the data obtained will confirm the observation that there was some 

 improvement in the general well-being of the children as a result of the feeding of 

 either the tomato or the milk or of both, or whether the apparent improvement was 

 sufficient to be measured by the tests applied can not be stated until the analysis 

 of these data has been more nearly completed. 



The Value of Evaporated Milk for School Food Service. (B. Wait and 

 O. A. Merriam.) This project is similar in purpose and in method to the above. 

 Throughout two school years the children of the first four grades of the school in 

 a small mill village have been given a mid-morning feeding of eight ounces of re- 

 constituted evaporated milk daily. The general condition of these children at the 

 beginning and the end of the school year as indicated by medical and dental exam- 

 inations, and their growth, school progress, school attendance, and incidence of 

 colds during the school year have been observed. These same observations have 

 also been made of a control group of children of the same grades in a school in a 

 neighboring village. As in the project above, the control group is being fed this 

 year to ascertain w hether any improvement observed in the general well-being of 

 the children of the experimental group can be obtained as well in the children of 

 the control school. 



