70 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 449 



Duke of York is too small, too poor in quality, ripens too unevenly and is 

 clingstone. It has nothing but earliness to recommend it and cannot compete 

 with other varieties of its season. 



Fisher has not been outstandingly hardy. The fruit ripens very unevenly, 

 sometimes at one end first, sometimes on the outside, leaving the center hard and 

 underripe. The quality is variable and no better than fair at its best. 



Champion, although it has many fine qualities, has flesh which is too soft for 

 shipping. Even for the back yard better varieties are available. 



Polly is almost an exact duplicate of Champion. Like that old variety, it 

 has many good qualities but the flesh is too soft. 



Blueberries. — Among the U.S.D.A. blueberry selections which have fruited, 

 V-20 looks the most promising. The berries, which ripen late midseason to late, 

 are large and fine flavored and have a good blue color. However, the scar is 

 rather large and watery and they seem rather susceptible to the mummy berry 

 disease. The bush bears heavy crops for its size but is a bit small. Cold resis- 

 tance of both wood and buds appears good. 



GN-87 is good but probably not quite good enough. The berries are usually 

 large and have had a very good blue color in most years. The scar is usually good 

 but the flavor is often too mild. Berries ripen late and are slightly susceptible 

 to mummy berrj'. The bush is vigorous and yields well. Cold resistance of buds 

 and wood appears good. 



The fruit of F-72 is very large, dark colored and tart, ripens late, and is slightly 

 susceptible to mummy berry. The bush is moderately vigorous. The crop has 

 been good in some years but very light in others probably as a result of spring 

 frost. 



R-86 usually produces a good crop which ripens late but the berries are small. 

 Their flavor is fair to good and the scar is good. The bush lacks vigor. 



U-85 has produced large berries but very few of them. They ripen late, are 

 very firm, have good color and good flavor, but are very susceptible to mummy 

 berry. The bush is only fair in vigor. 



Grapes. — ^A new blue grape, the Cook, which ripens between Worden and 

 Concord, appears to be a worthy addition to the list of blue grapes. 



Raspberries. — -The Milton red raspberry is the most promising of the New 

 York introductions in every respect except winter hardiness. In this character- 

 istic it is definitely inferior to Latham or Chief. Taylor is too seriously injured 

 by virus diseases to be desirable. 



Strawberries. — Among the newer varieties of strawberries under trial, the Mid- 

 land, Temple, Fairland, and Sparkle look promising. All are good producers of 

 better than average quality and firmness. Temple, Fairland, and Sparkle are 

 also resistant to the Red Stele root disease. On the other hand, Robinson (Scar- 

 let Beauty), which has been highly advertised, has not shown much promise 

 in our trials so far. 



DEPARTMENT OF POULTRY HUSBANDRY 



F. P. Jeffrey in Charge 



Broodlness in Poultry. (F. A. Hays and D. W. Talmadge.) The last genera- 

 tion in the non-broody line included 80 females. One individual exhibited broody 

 behavior in the first laying year with but a single broody period. Most of these 

 females have been retained to test for deferred broody behavior. This generation 

 again demonstrated our inability to completely eliminate the broody instinct 

 by selective breeding. 



