SEED INSPECTION 29 



TYPE AND VARIETY STUDIES OF VEGETABLES 



Conducted in Conjunction with the Department of Olericulture 

 Grant B. Snyder, Professor 



Again this year, as in previous years, tests were conducted by the Experiment 

 Station to determine the trueness to type of vegetable seeds that are offered for 

 sale by the seedsmen in Massachusetts. In the spring of 1944, 54 samples of 

 Beans, 60 of Beets, 56 of Carrots, 47 of Corn, 54 of Onions, 46 of Radish, 43 of 

 Rutabaga, 48 of Spinach and 45 of Turnip were purchased on the open market 

 by state inspectors of the Department of Agriculture and sent to the Experiment 

 Station at Amherst, where the Department of Olericulture planted the seed in 

 field test plots in order to compare plant characteristics with the labeled variety 

 name. 



The soil of the test plot is a fine, sandy loam and is in a high state of fertility. 

 The land was well prepared and a 5-8-7 fertilizer at the rate of 1500 pounds per 

 acre was applied broadcast and harrowed into the soil prior to seeding. Growth 

 and development was very satisfactory except for the turnips, the foliage of 

 which was severely infested by aphids, resulting in crop failure. Onion seed 

 arrived too late in the season for this year's trials. 



Yields of the various crops were not determined because of the necessity of 

 using small plots and also because so many strains and varieties were compared 

 that replication of the plantings was not feasible. Conformity to type has been 

 the measure of comparison in these tests and individual plants have been called 

 ofT-type when they could not be classified in a group of plants ranging fairly 

 close to the type generally accepted as typical for the particular variety under 

 consideration. 



In studying the performance records it becomes evident that all but a few of 

 the stocks were true to name and description and most of them were highly pro- 

 ductive. A few of the lots germinated very poorly or not at all, resulting in few 

 or no plants, so that records from these lots were impossible. In a few instances 

 it appeared that the variety had been misnamed or misrepresented but fortunately 

 they were reasonably good substitutions. 



The source of the seed and the laboratory germination is given together with 

 remarks on conformity to type, except that those lots of seed which were tested 

 in the field and were found 100% true-to-type are not included in this table. 



