16 



CONTROL SERIES NO. 155 



FIELD TESTS OF VEGETABLE SEEDS 



Type and Variety Studies 



Conducted by the Seed Laboratory 



Waldo C. Lincoln, Jr., Laboratory Assistant 



W. H. Lachman, Associate Research Professor, Consultant 



Department of Olericulture 



This is the seventeenth year that the Experiment Station has conducted tests 

 to determine the trueness-to-type of various kinds of vegetable seed offered for 

 sale in this State The State Seed Inspector purchased 301 samples of beans, 

 beets, broccoli, cabbage, corn, carrots, radishes, rutabagas, and turnips for trial 

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

 variety name. The 301 samples tested were taken at 22 retail establishments 

 and'represent the products of 30 seedsmen who wholesale seed in this State. All 

 lots, except carrots and radishes, were hand-seeded in twenty-foot rows, and 

 later thinned to the desired distances. The carrots and radishes were hand- 

 seeded in ten-foot rows and later thinned to the desired distances. Planting was 

 done the 23rd of May. Although growing conditions were rather dry through- 

 <\it this area, theseed plots did not suffer due to the rather heavy soil and the 

 low location. 



Conformity to type was the measure of comparison in the tests, and individual 

 plants were 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 under consideration. 



Table 4 

 Field Tests of Vegetable Seeds 



Wholesale Distributor, Variety of Seed 

 Lab. Kind of and Lot Number, Dealer When Other 

 No. Seed Than Wholesale Distributor, and Place 



Collected 



True 



Type 



% 



Remarks 



Associated Seed Gowers, Inc. 

 Milford, Conn. 



De Vincent Bros.. Waltham 



597 F Radish Cavalier, No. 21406 98 2% French Breakfast Type 



Poor root development 

 Wrentham State School, Wrentham 



S-480 F Rutabaga L. L Improved 92 S% Purple Top White 



Globe Turnip 

 Joseph Breck & Sons, Boston, Mass. 

 182 F Beet Crosby Egyptian Breck's Arlington 



Strain 70 30% Detroit Dark Red Type 



172 F Corn Extra Early Pearl 97 3% off -type 



W. Atlee Burpee Co., Philadelphia. Pa. 



Clinton Hardware Co., Clinton 



940 F Turnip Purple Top White Globe 85 15% Purple Top Strap 



Leaf Type 

 Harding St., Grain Co., Worcester 



515 F Beets Detroit Dark Red, No. 7719 91 6% Crosby Egyptian Type 



3% heart shape 



523 F Cabbage Perfection Drumhead Savoy 91 9% Rutabaga 



525 F Turnip Purple Top White Globe 97 3% double top 



Northampton Plumbing & Hardware 

 Co , Northampton 



659 F Cabbage Burpee's Copenhagen Market 68 32% Danish Ball Head Type 



654 F Radish White Icicle 98 2% purple flesh 



