24 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 441 



during a 22-day feeding period. The riboflavin content of the milk was signi- 

 ficantly increased, but the increase was of short duration and the riboflavin 

 content soon returned to pre-experimental levels. While it is possible to materially 

 increase the riboflavin content of mare's milk, it is evidently more efficient to 

 administer riboflavin to the foal directlj' rather than through the mare's milk. 



A Study of the Changes in Vitamin Content Coincident with Different Stages 

 and Rates of Maturity of Vegetables Used for Home Consumption. (Arthur D. 



Holmes and Carleton P. Jones.) Two studies were completed during the fiscal 

 year. Both produced data concerning the vitamin content of vegetables — winter 

 squash and winter tomatoes — produced localh'. 



Composition of Squashes after Winter Storage. (Arthur D. Holmes and Albert 

 F. Spelman.) Squashes have been an important article of diet in this looility 

 since early colonial times. In this study four varieties, Blue Hubbard, Butter- 

 nut, Golden Cushaw, and Delicious, were secured about the middle of February 

 from chain and independent grocery stores, private homes, and the University 

 dining hall storage house. This represented a wide variety of storage conditions 

 which were believed to be similar to those in general use for squashes consumed 

 in this locality. The four varieties of squashes contained about the same amount 

 of riboflavin. The Butternut squash had higher calcium, iron, magnesium and 

 phosphorus content than the other varieties. The squashes contained less cal- 

 cium, iron, and magnesium but considerably more riboflavin and phosphorus 

 than was found in lettuce and kale grown on the University farm. The values 

 for carotene, riboflavin, calcium, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus varied with 

 the difi'erent varieties and with individual squashes within the varieties; but the 

 results show that all four varieties, after four-month's winter storage, were good 

 sources of food ingredients essential for the human diet. The most striking 

 values obtained were for carotene in Butternut and Golden Cushaw squashes, 

 for they were unusually rich in this essential food constituent. 



Food Value of Hormone- Treated Tomatoes. (Arthur D. Holmes, Albert F. 

 Spelman, John V\i . Kuzmeski, and William H. Lachman.) According to agricul- 

 tural statistics, the commercial crop of tomatoes in 1944 was 4,051,000 pounds, 

 which is equivalent to over 31 pounds for each man, woman, and child in this 

 country. During recent years numerous investigators have studied the efi^ect of 

 spraying tomato blossoms with various plant hormones to increase the number 

 of fruits and to produce seedless tomatoes. It is generally believed that tomato 

 seeds have very little human food value. Accordingly, a question arose concern- 

 ing the relative food value of normal and needless tomatoes. In the present 

 study, tomato seeds of the Waltham Forcing variety were planted December 1, 

 and the seedlings transplanted to the greenhouse February 1. Fertilizer was 

 applied at the rate of 20 tons of horse manure and one ton of commercial 5-8-7 

 fertilizer per acre. A solution of 0.075 gm. of beta-naphthoxyacetic acid per 

 liter was sprayed directly into the center of fully opened tomato blossoms with a 

 small atomizer until droplets of the solution could be observed inside the flower. 

 During the interval between planting the seeds and harvesting the tomatoes, the 

 greenhouse was exposed to 1000 hours of bright sunshine. Very little difference 

 was found in the water content or the magnesium content of the hormone- 

 treated and control tomatoes. The hormone-treated tomatoes averaged slightly 

 more nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium; but the controls contained 

 an average of 18.2 mg. of ascorbic acid per 100 grams as compared with 14.4 mg. 

 for the hormone-treated. 



