NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS FIELD STATION, 1913-1922 4] 
BEDDING PLANTS 
Several beds of the more favored type of flowers have been grown 
on the station grounds. Cannas and geraniums have made up most 
of the plant material used, with a few other species included. All 
beds were very successful and repaid the extra care involved in this 
phase of landScape work. 
OLERICULTURE 
In the average year on the northern Great Plains success with 
vegetables appears to be more of a certainty than is the case with fruit. 
Vegetable erowing will hardly become of commercial importance, 
but the farmer and home gardener should be able to grow adequate 
supplies for their own needs. The absence of farm cardens in this 
region and the large quantities of fresh and canned veg etables : annually 
shipped into the small towns would seem to indicate that vegetable 
growing, like fruit growing, must be practiced along lines different 
from those followed in more favored sections. 
Experimental work with vegetables at this station has been directed 
along three lines: (1) Varietal tests, to determine the varieties of 
the different classes of vegetables best adapted to conditions; (2) vege- 
table breeding, to improve the quality, production, or adaptation 
of the most promising varieties; and (3) a l-acre rotation garden, 
to determine the possibilities of ‘garden production and the cultural 
methods best suited to the farm garden im this section. 
Potato varietal and cultural tests and potato-breeding investiga- 
tions have been conducted as a part of the olericulture w ork. 
VARIETAL TESTS 
Tests of a few varieties of the common vegetables were begun in 
1913 and later increased to include more classes and varieties and 
various strains of the same variety. The usual custom of starting 
long-season crops in hotbeds and later transferrmg them to the 
field and planting others in the open with a garden drill was followed. 
Seasonal notes on quality, yield, and other characters were made 
each year and the yields determined. Varietal tests of vegetables 
were discontinued as a separate line of work after 1918, and atten- 
tion was concentrated on the improvement of certain ones and on 
working out methods of farm-garden management and the possibili- 
ties of production i in the 1-acre farm varden. 
The details and results of the varietal tests will not be presented 
here. Nothing will be attempted in this report except to show the 
scope of the work and the general character of the results with each 
of the garden vegetables. 
Asparagus.—Two plantings were made of varieties of asparagus raised from 
seed. There was only slight winterkilling, and fairly satisfactory yields were 
obtained. 
Beans.—Highteen varieties were tested as shell beans, and 33 varieties as string 
or snap beans. Both proved fairly reliable crops, free from disease and w ith 
but few insect enemies. A number of varieties of Lima beans were tested, but 
none reached an edible stage before frost. 
Beets.—Thirteen varieties were tested as early or fiickling beets, and 10 as 
late or winter beets. This vegetable, like most of the root crops, is successfully 
grown here. Results with early beets were particularly good. There was always 
moisture enough to carry them to the early stage of growth at which they are 
harvested and to produce roots of good quality. 
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