28 



CONTROL SERIES NO. 127 



TYPE AND VARIETY STUDIES OF VEGETABLES 



Conducted in Conjunction with the Department of Olericulture 

 Grant B. Snyder, Professor 



Each year tests are conducted by the Experiment Station to check on the 

 quality of vegetable seed that is distributed and sold in packets throughout the 

 State. The tests help to inform the public of the merits of certain strains and 

 varieties of seed and also serve as a check to detect mixtures and substitutions 

 that occur accidentally or otherwise. The results reported here should be inter- 

 preted with certain reservations, however, because of the fact that all strains 

 and varieties are not affected alike by various climatic and soil conditions. 



The soil of the trial plot was a fine, sandy loam and is naturally fertile. A 

 rye cover crop was plowed under, a liberal quantity of fertilizer was applied and 

 the soil was thoroughly prepared prior to seedage. Growth and development 

 was generally satisfactory in spite of the very wet growing season. 



Yield records were not taken because of the necessity of using small plots and 

 also because replication of the plantings was impossible with the large number of 

 strains and varieties that were flanted. Conformity to type has been the meas- 

 ure of general excellence in these tests. Individual plants have been called off-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 in question. 



The comparative type and performance records reveal that all but a few of the 

 stocks were true to name and most of them were highly productive. A few strains 

 were either misnamed or misrepresented but this was the exception rather than 

 the rule. 



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. 



Field Tests of Vegetable Seeds 



Wholesale Distributor, Variety of Seed True 

 Lab. Kind of and Lot Number, Dealer when other to 



No Seed than Wholesale Distributor, and Place Type 



Collected % 



Associated Seed Growers, Inc., New 

 Haven, Conn. 



Anthony Cos.. Chicopee 

 823 F Radish Early Scarlet Globe 90 



Lake Hardware Co., Arlington 

 4'>9 F Beet Crosby's Egyptian 92 



W. J. Walker Co., Wakefield 

 517 F Beet Detroit 96 



Wells Hardware Co , Holyoke 



819 F Turnip Yellow Swede — 



820 F Turnip Yellow Globe 98 



Joseph Breck & Sons, Boston, Mass. 



126 F Radish Saxa 80 



124 F Turnip Purple Top Strap Leaf 99 



Needham Hardware Co., Needham 

 371 F Beans Stringless Green Pod 99 



The Welch Co., Scituate Harbor 

 424 F Beet Early Blood 98 



2% Deep Purple — 2% Cylin- 

 drical — 6% Top Shape 



4% Deep Globe Shape — 

 4% Cylindrical 



4% Flattened 



88%Rutabaga — 2% Purple 

 Top Turnip 

 2% Purple Top 



2% White Tip — 2% Oblong 

 — 2% Long — 14% Spindle 

 Shape 

 1% White 



1% Pole Beans 

 2% Spindle 



