146 



MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



the expense of the head, while the tendency of plants from small 

 seeds is to run to head. In order to study the influence of the 

 size of seed on the relative size of the head, fifty of the largest 

 seeds, also fifty of the smallest were selected from each of three 

 varieties. Of two of the varieties, the weight of the smaller 

 seeds was less than half that of the larger; the weight of the 

 smaller seeds of the other variety was a little more than half that 

 of the larger. Each lot of fifty seeds was sowed, and when the 

 plantlets were ready for the first handling, twenty of the best 

 plants from each lot were selected and handled as above stated. 

 Table I gives the ratio of the average weight of the heads from 

 the small seed to that of the heads from the large seed. 



TABLE I. 







In 







c3 





*= 













§>. 







d 



» a 



ci O 





pq 



P3W 



sa 





1.69 



1.37 



.94 





1.00 



1.00 



1.00 







The facts are too obvious to need extended explanation. The 

 large seed of two of the varieties, Ballhead and Reynolds' Early, 

 produced heads which averaged 69 per cent, and 37 per cent, 

 larger respectively, than did those from the small seed. The 

 other variety — Harvest Home — gave contradictory results, the 

 heads from the small seed averaging 6 per cent, heavier than 

 those from the large seed. 



2. Results of tying up the outer leaves: — It has been thought 

 by some one that by drawing the leaves of the cabbage together 

 and binding them with a string over the head, maturity would be 

 hastened. Accordingly, with this idea in mind, as soon as the 

 heads had fairly commenced to form, three lots of plants were 

 treated in the way described above, i. e., the points of the leaves 

 were drawn together over the head and a string tied around 

 them sufficiently tight to keep them in the desired position. The 

 results obtained relative to the point in question cannot well 

 be expressed by figures, but suffice it to say that the operation 

 seemed to have no influence whatever upon the date of maturity. 

 This treatment, however, was not without its effect, as the fig- 

 ures in table II will show. 



