56 Experiment Station Bulletin 363 



Early Chatham, a variety resulting from the tomato breeding project, 

 has made possible successful tomato production in the northern section 

 of New Hampshire, and they are now grown there by the thousands. 

 Continued work toward the development of better early varieties is be- 

 ing continued both at Colebrook and at Durham. The production of 

 tomatoes \\^ith a high vitamin C content is now being given much time. 

 Marketable tomatoes with three times the vitamin C content of ordinary 

 varieties were produced in 1944. Selections for the purification of this 

 characteristic are being continued. Tinv Tim, named in 1944, probably 

 the smallest variety of tomato grown as far as plants are concerned, has 

 proven popular in some places as a house plant and as a novelty for home 

 gardens, although another variety named last year, Window Box, which 

 has a plant 18 inches in height with fairly good-sized fruit, is better 

 adapted for such a purpose. Some home gardeners have found it useful 

 for their early garden crops. 



Thirtv-eight lines of Lima beans have been purified by growing 

 them several generations in the greenhouse. These are being tested for 

 performance in the field and the best will be ready for multiplication 

 during the summer of 1946. An early lima of the potato type with large, 

 green seed, is the objective. 



Butternut squash continues to be an outstanding variety among 

 those tested, both for home and commercial production. Merrimack 

 Wonder pepper is particularly adapted to this region. 



A. F. Yeager, H. S. Clapp, W. D. Holley 



Treatment of Seeds with Hormones 

 And Hormone-like Preparations 



Various concentrations of urea were tried on green pencil-pod beans, 

 lettuce, radish, and Swiss chard. Treatments were: dry, control, 10 per 

 cent urea solution, 50 per cent urea, 100 per cent urea, all for three hours, 

 planted in soil in bulb pans. The controls gave the largest number ger- 

 minated, otherwise, there was little difference in the beans. The other 

 seed showed adverse effects from the urea, increasing with greater con- 

 centrations. 



Trials with methocel plus hormone solutions were made \\ith onion 

 and bean seeds. It \\'as thought that methocel, a hydrophillic colloid, 

 might make the hormone more slowly available. A 5 per cent methocel 

 solution was used and to this was added 0,1 ^7;/. of p-chlorophenoxyacetic 

 acid per 50 7?;/. Onion seed were soaked in this for four hours and kidney 

 beans for six hours, and then planted in soil. None of the hormone- 

 treated seed came up, and about 90 per cent of the controls germinated. 



A 5 per cent methocel solution with the various concentrations of 

 urea noted above was tried on pencil-pod beans, each for one hour. 

 iVgain, the urea eflFect was adverse, increasing \\-ith concentration. 



Cut seed pieces of potato were tested with 5 per cent methocel with 

 various substances: methoxyacetic acid, p-chlorophenoxyacetic acid, p- 

 thiocresol, indolbutyric acid, methocel alone, and controls; all \vere at 



