Igricnlhirc^
liifasral Htis
M^Echnologg
Breeding New
Vegetable Varieties
Thiis is the Market Midget Watermelon, a variety witli a tough riiul whieh
will not break when fruits are shipped to market. An improvement over New
Hampshire Midget, this melon stores in edible eondition for several weeks.
By Albert F. Yeager and Elwyn M. Meader
Station Bulletin 440
June 1957
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Contents
Greencrop Bean 2
Royalty Bean 4
Pole Wax Beans 4
Flat Seed Horticultural Beans 4
New Hampshire Giant Bean 5
Horticultural Beans 5
Shelleasy 6
Scarlet Beauty 6
Red Shellout 7
Sweetheart Beet 7
Other Beet Breeding 9
Red Brussels Sprouts 9
Red Chinese Cabbage 9
Durham Carrot 11
Bitter-free Carrots 12
Cocheco Sweet Corn 13
Eggplant Breeding 13
Ground Cherry Breeding 14
Nectarmelon 15
Other Muskmelon Breeding 16
Purple Pod Peas 17
Permagreen Pepper 18
Pinocchio Pepper 19
Sweet Salad Pepper 20
Other Pepper Breeding 20
Red Rutabagas 20
Orange Buttercup Squash 21
Orange Bush Squash 22
Baby Butternut Sc[uash 23
Aml)er Squash 24
Bush Squash With Edilde Seed 25
Large Orange Squash for Peeling 26
Doublerich Tomato 27
New Hampshire Red Pickling
Tomatoes 28
New Hampshire Surecroj) Tomato .... 29
Irratliation to Induce Variations in
Tomatoes 30
Johnny Jumpup Tomato 31
Market Midget Watermelon 31
Orange-Rind Watermehtns 32
Breeding New Vegetable Varieties
By Albert F. Yeager and Elwyn M. Meader*
THIS bulletin presents the breeding work with vegetables which has been
accomplished since publication in 1950 of New Hampshire Agricultural
Experiment Station Bulletin 3oO, "Breeding Improved Horticultural Plants
— 1. Vegetables." Although it requires years of painstaking effort to ori-
ginate and test a superior new vegetable variety, much faster progress can
be made with vegetable crops than with fruits, such as the apple, for ex-
ample, which may require ten years to fruit from seed.
Many persons have contributed during the past years to the success of
this vegetable breeding program which, like any worthwhile scientific en-
deavor, depends upon the cooperation of capable individuals both within
the Agricultural Experiment Station and elsewhere. Where such individuals
have made major contributions, they have been mentioned directly in the
text or by a conspicuous footnote to call attention to the work that they
have done. As a matter of convenience in caring for the details of main-
taining seed stocks and records, the senior author has taken the lead in
tomato improvement, breeding for processing squashes, greenpod snap-
beans, and beet and carrot work. The junior author has cared particularly
for the work with honeydew-type melons, golden-rind watermelons, small
individual squashes, peppers, eggplant, purple-pod peas, blue beans, pole
beans, and horticultural beans. A close cooperation and a full exchange of
ideas has made possible the vegetable breeding work. It seems best to credit
worthwhile results to team work without which the breeding work would
have been much curtailed. Not all who contributed to the vegetable breed-
ing project can be mentioned. Anyone who has furnished seed for breeding
or has made yield and quality comparisons can be truthfully said to have
had a part in originating these new varieties.
*A common question is: How are the new varieties made available to
the public? Briefly, the several steps are as follows: First, when a new true-
breeding vegetable selection seems to have merit beyond the tried-and-proven
older sorts, seeds of the new variety, usually under an assigned number
for trial purposes, are sent to certain qualified individuals within this and
nearby states who can ascertain the desirability of the new kind as com-
pared with the standard varieties they are growing. Trial seeds are sent
also to other Agricultural Experiment Stations not only in this country but
to those anywhere in the world upon a request from a qualified official.
Commercial seed companies also ask for and receive seeds for their trial
grounds. After a period of testing, any variety deemed worthy of intro-
duction is officially named with the approval of the Director of the Agri-
cultural Experiment Station. Seed of the newly-named variety is increased
and handled by commercial seedsmen from whom it can be purchased by
the general public.
* Dr. Yeager is Horticulturist in the Agrirultural Experiment Station. Mr. Meader
ii Associate Horticulturist in the Station.
At all times, information is continually being made public regarding
sources of supply for seeds of the new varieties.
The Agricultural Experiment Station does not produce seeds of the new
varieties beyond what i^ needed to introduce the variety to the seed trade.
Greencrop Bean
As stated in Station Bulletin 380, one objective in bean breeding has been
the development of a good productive variety of green snapbean having
The 1957 All-Ainerica (j-reeiuTop bean — a very large, podded, flat, white-seed
bush variety adapted to home gardens, some local markets, and for processing.
white seeds. When a variety with colored seeds is processed in a glass
container at the customary 15 pounds steam pressure for an hour, the
cooked product shows up with a darkened appearance. This undesirable
discoloration does not result when green snapbeans having white seeds are
canned and cooked in a like manner. An improved green-pod snapbean with
white seeds was desired particularly for the manufacture of baby foods that
are packed in glass which allows the contents to show within the jar.
The first step toward origination of the desired new variety was the
crossing of Bountiful and Streamliner. The latter has white seeds. Selec-
tions from this breeding were crossed with a red-seed variety from Aus-
tralia which had long pods that were not genetically stringless. In the mean-
time, a machine suitable for harvesting snapbeans had been developed else-
where. For the most efficient harvesting of snapbeans by machine, a variety
was needed which matured at one time a large proportion of choice sizes
of pods held well up from the ground on strong-growing upright plants.
Attention was given to these points in making the selections so that the
new variety might be adapted to machine harvesting. When selections were
ready for testing, the Beechnut Packing Company"". Canajoharie, New
York, which manufactures baby foods, grew a crop of the several lines of
selected snapbeans and processed them in their pilot plant. This aided in
the selection of a line having low fiber content and excellent cooking quality.
In field trials, the selected line NH 4^23 attracted attention as a desirable
one for the fresh produce market. Further testing of NH #23 snapbean re-
sulted in its being chosen as an All-American selection for release in 1957.
This photograph of the Greenorop bean shows the large number of beans which
mature at one time, thus making this variety adapted to machine harvesting.
The name Greencrop has been assigned to the new variety. It is char-
acterized by a strong, upright, bush plant bearing stringless, long, green,
flat pods and white seeds. Greencrop has value for processing, for the fresh
produce markets, for roadside stands, and for the home garden where a
large pod green snapbean may be appreciated. Greencrop can replace the
older Bountiful variety.
* Beechnut Packing Company (now Beechnut-Lifesaver) contributed funds to aid
in support of the bean breeding project.
Royally Bean
This variety is a round-pod, bush, snap bean which resulted from a cross
between Florida ^501 blue pod, a climbing round pod variety, and a
stringy flat-pod, blue, bush bean, an heirloom variety grown only by a
few home gardeners in New Hampshire. In -Royalty, the best characteristics
of both varieties have been combined, giving a medium length, round pod,
stringless bush bean of great productivity. The tan-colored seeds have
marked ability to germinate in cold ground. Tan seed and blue-pod color,
also called purple hull, seem to be closely linked. Thus far, all seedlings with
blue pods also have tan seed. The plants have attractive purple flowers.
Royalty is a useful novelty in that the pods contrast with the green foliage,
hence, are easily picked. As soon as the blue pods have cooked in boiling
water for one or two minutes they turn green. Thus for the home gardener
who freezes beans there is the convenience of a built-in blanching indicator.
The cooked beans are an attractive dark green; the flavor and quality are
good.
The crossing of common beans is a difficult and tedious procedure, but
selection in subsequent generations is easy because little natural crossing
occurs. Beans are also easy to handle in the greenhouse. Many times we
grow one crop in the field and three successive crops in the greenhouse
during the winter months. Two calendar years of such intensive breeding
may, and often does, result in a true breeding line.
Pole Wax Beans
A heavy producing wax pole bean. It is
stringless, has white seeds, long pods.
There has never been a pole wax
bean equal to the green-pod Ken-
tucky Wonder. We therefore made a
cross between a stringless, bush wax
bean of our own breeding, having
a low fiber content, and Kentucky
Wonder. Continued selections were
made from this cross for a vigorous
productive climbing plant with
stringless, large, straight pt)ds and
white seeds. The result is a produc-
tive wax, pole variety with pods up
to a foot in length which have a
better sliape than those of Kentucky
Wonder. A dominant gene for the
stringless character has made this
project difficult to complete. Seed of
a desirable strain is now
creased.
being in-
Flat Seed Horticultural Beans
The lima bean, Phaseoliis luiiatus, is not grown generally in New Hamp-
shire. A pole bean, with large flat seeds called Horticultural Lima, is grown
sometimes in New England. This name is a misnomer since it is properly
classified among the common beans P. vulgaris. It seemed desirable to have
a large, flat-seed horticultural bean useful for green shell and dry beans
that would be borne on a bush plant. Crosses of Horticultural Lima were
made with Bumblebee, a local variety having large, plump, white seeds with
a soldier-like pattern about the eye.
From this cross, breeding lines having bush plants that yield large, flat
seeds of three distinctive color patterns have been purified, namely: (1)
solid light red; (2) red mottled; (3) light background with dark vellow
streaks. These lines seem rather susceptible to bean mosaic and damage
by leaf hoppers. At best, they are novelties and unlikely to be commercial-
1\ important.
New Hampshire Giant Bean
In the process of developing the Greencrop snapbean, a selection naving
flat, green, stringless pods that grew 10 to 11 inches long and still main-
tained good edible quality was distributed for trial under the name New
Hampshire Giant. After further testing, it was learned that production of
seed of this variety was a problem in the eastern states. The large pods
are attractive and of good quality and one of the seed companies in a
western state has been able to increase the seed and catalogue the variety.
While New Hampshire Giant is a fine snapbean, Greencrop can be grown
in most sections of the country and it seems well adapted. New Hampshire
Giant may be the largest podded, stringless. green, bush bean having white
seeds that is available in the seed trade. Its greatest appeal is to home
sardeners.
Horticultural Beans
Horticultural beans are an important commercial vegetable crop in New
England and they are also a favorite food grown by the home gardener.
The pods of some varieties may be used while immature for snapbeans,
but this use has been superseded mostly bv improved snapbean varieties.
For the most part, the crop is harvested at the green shell stage of maturitv
when the pods of the common commercial variety, French Horticultural,
and similar sorts are prettily splashed with bright carmine red against a
yellow background color. The pods go to market in bushel boxes. The con-
sumer shells out the beans by hand only to find that the attractive colors
are a feature of the pod and the seeds are white with occasionally a few
faint streaks of red. When the pods become fully mature, the dry seeds
may be harvested for use as baking beans and several varieties of the
horticultural beans are favored for this particular use. i
Twenty years ago breeding work to develop new varieties of bush horti- ^
cultural beans that had red-seed color, as well as attractive red pods, was
undertaken and the varieties. Flash and Brilliant, described in Station
Bulletin 380, were introduced. Both varieties have improved seed color.
Flash is a bush plant, while Brilliant has trailing vines like French Horti-
cultural. Newer, better ones are described in the following paragraphs.
Shelleasy
The te^iting of local heirloom beans resulted in selection ot the Littleton,
an early-maturing prolific kind with light-colored mottled pods, and large
kidney seeds, having a light buff color with streaks of red. Crosses were
made between Flash and Littleton and in due time gave rise to the Shell-
easv named in 195L This early bush variety proved more productive than
Four varieties of horticultural beans. From left to right: Scarlet Beauty,
French Horticultural (an old commercial variety). Red Shellout, Shelleasy.
Flash. Shelleasy averages 5 to 6 seeds per pod and the percentage shellout
of green shell beans measured repeatedly as 55 percent has been con-
sistently the highest of all varieties tested at Durham. The pods have good
outside red color in northern areas with cool summers, but they may be-
come somewhat faded under conditions where high temperatures prevail.
The variety was named Shelleasy since the pods at the green-shell stage of
maturity may be opened readily by just a slight twist. This ease of shell-
ing has been much appreciated by those who shell the beans by hand.
Also Shelleasy has proved to be adapted to shelling by a machine, such
as the rotary-cylinder type of pea huUer.
Scarlet Beauty
At the same time crosses were made between Littleton and Flash, crosses
were made also between Flash and another local variety called Pittsfield,
a pole variety with large pods. This latter cross led to the Scarlet Beauty
which was released in 1953. This kind has large seeds with dark red streaks
of mottling on a pinkish red background color. The green shell beans of
Scarlet Beauty are virtually as bright as a ripe cranberry. Moreover, the
attractive red color is retained to a large degree in cooking; all other
varieties of green shell beans turn a light brown color when cooked. The
large upright bush plants of Scarlet Beauty, while productive under ideal
conditions, are rather susceptible to common bean mosaic and leaf-hopper
damage. Scarlet Beauty can also be shelled satisfactorily by machine.
Red Shellout
Over a decade ago crosses were made between Flash and the White Runner
bean, Phaseolus multi floras. The interspecific hybrid had bright scarlet
flowers similar to the Scarlet Runner bean. During germination, the cotyle-
dons of Flash, similar to all common beans, come above the soil. Con-
trastingly, seeds of the runner beans remain below the ground much like
a garden pea. Cotyledons of the hybrid plants came just to the soil sur-
face. However, the hybrids proved self-unfruitful in the greenhouse. Resort
was made to cuttings of the tall climbing hybrids. Many cuttings rooted
readily when placed in bottles of water. Potted rooted cuttings were trans-
planted to a field where horticultural beans grew nearby. Bumblebees
visited the red flowers of the hybrid bean plants, as well as the flowers of
the other beans, and as a result sufficient mature seeds were obtained from
the hybrids to make possible a second generation. It is presumed that the
seeds came mostly from backcrossing with the common bean, though it
has been possible to secure backcrosses to the runner beans, as well. Selec-
tion in the third generation and through subsequent generations was for
fertile plants having the dominant red flower characteristic.
Finally after 15 or 16 generations of plants had been grown, some in the
field and others in the greenhouse, it was possible to get true-breeding lines
having certain desired plant characteristics. A particularly productive line,
with red seed color similar to Scarlet Beauty, has light red flowers which
not only beautify the plants but aid in their identification. This new bush
variety has been named Red Shellout. It was so named because it is antici-
pated that its fullest usefulness may be realized when the beans are offered
for sale shelled from the pods. The shelled beans are put into quart berry
baskets for display in certain local markets.
It is anticipated that Red Shellout, or a similar type, may eventually
find use for commercial canning of shell beans packed in glass containers
since the cooked seeds retain their attractive reddish color. All other varie-
ties, except Scarlet Beauty, cook an appetizing brownish color somewhat
like baked beans. The dry beans of Red Shellout when baked also retain
some of their red color, have a pleasant grainy texture, and have been
rated excellent in flavor.
Sweetheart Beet
In 1949, a sugar beet, U. S. 4^225, that had been received from Dr. G. H.
Coons, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland, was
included among varieties of table beets grown in variety trials at Durham,
New Hampshire. Samples of the several varieties were canned'"' and taste-
tested later by a panel of judges. The interesting fact was learned that
most people preferred the canned sugar beet to all others except for its
white color. Hence it was decided to originate a red table beet having the
sweetness of the sugar beet.
Roots of U. S. +t225 sugar beet and Detroit Dark Red table beet were
forced in the greenhouse and when they began to flower were placed in
close proximity. Merely by tapping the stems of the plants, clouds of the
* Miss Frances Platts, Home Economics Department, cooperated hy preparing
canned samples of the beet varieties.
7.
light pollen were readily carried by the slightest air currents from flowers
of one plant to those of another plant. Seeds from the sugar beet were saved
and planted in the open field. As the white root color is recessive, all those
seedlings showing red color indicated hybridity. These hybrid beets, after
having been held in cold storage, were brought into flower in the green-
house under lights used to supplement the short photoperiod during the
winter. Seed was saved for a second generation which was grown in the
field. Those beets of good shape and having solid red color throughout the
root and a high sugar or total soluble-solids content were selected for seed
production. The internal root color was determined by pushing a one-
quarter-inch cork borer through the side of the beet. The presence or ab-
.sence of white zones of color within roots that had a solid dark red ex-
terior could thus be readily observed from the small cylinder of flesh re-
moved, yet with only slight damage to the root.
Sweetheart beet — a late table variety, much sweeter than other table kinds.
The relative sweetness of roots was measured by use of a Spencer Standard
Abbe-type refractometer. A small piece gouged from the side of a root
was squeezed between the jaws of a pair of hand pliers until a drop of
juice flowed on to the slide of the refractometer. Thus a reading for the
total soluble solids of each root could be made rather quickly. Only those
red roots having a reading similar to the sugar beet were saved for seed
production. Again seed from these selected roots was harvested in the
greenhouse during the winter. The seed from each plant was kept separate
to allow for progeny testing in the field the next summer. From the best
progeny lines further selections were made and the procedures as already
outlined were repeated until true breeding lines had been established. As
a result, a new late variety of red table beet, having smooth, oval, tapered
roots with a total soluble solids reading of 15 percent, has been named
Sweetheart. This reading, which approaches the value for a sugar beet,
is largely due to the presence of sugar. Most varieties of table beets have
readings of only 7 to 10 percent solids. Sweetheart beet has been rated
excellent in cooking tests and it has merited only praise from those home
gardeners who have grown this new table beet. The roots store exceptionally
well. Sweet pickled beets may be prepared by the use of vinegar only as
no additional sugar is needed with the new Sweetheart variety.
Other Beet Breeding
Sweetheart has now been crossed with an otherwise unpurified but mono-
germ beet which has only one seed in a pod. The object i* a quality table
beet which can be grown without thinning the plants.
Red Brussels Sprouts
Catskill. an early-maturing, dwarf, green variety, is the only Brussels
Sprouts which produces a worthwhile crop at Durham, New Hampshire. In
variety trials a tall-growing European variety having attractive bright red
color proved too late to be satisfactory, although it might produce a good
crop where the season is longer. A cross was made between the dwarf
green Catskill and the tall red variety within the greenhouse during the
winter of 1954-55 in an attempt to produce an early dwarf variety with red
sprouts. The first generation plants, when grown in the open field in 1955,
were tall-growing and an intermediate red color. Some of the best of these
were sib-pollinated in the greenhouse during the following winter and a
second generation was grown in the open field in 1956. Seeds were sown
directly with 5 to 7 seeds being dropped in a place. As soon as the plants
had grown several inches tall, all green seedlings were removed. Later each
hill was thinned to a single individual plant which showed the most red
pigment. Thus over 4.000 plants were observed in the second generation,
not one of which had the combination of dwarf plant with a dark red
color fully equal to the red variety used in the cross. Some choice dwarf
plants with intermediate red colored sprouts have been sib-pollinated and
also backcrossed to the red parent to enable selection of the desired dwarf
red plants in following generations. That a good dwarf red variety of
Brussels Sprouts can be produced seems assured from the progress already
made.
Red Chinese Cabbage
Though both are called cabbage, actually Chinese Cabbage, Brassica
pekineusis, and common cabbage, B. oleracea var. capitata, are two distinct
species. Natural crosses between the two species are rare. Nevertheless, as
early as 1942 it was learned that crosses were possible when the Chinese
Cabbage was the female parent. Many varieties of Chinese Cabbage are
grown in oriental countries, but so far as we know there is no red Chinese
Cabbage. In 1947 Wong Bok Chinese Cabbage was pollinated with pollen
from a selected red common cabbage. No attempt to emasculate flowers
was made. The red color is dominant and any hybrid seedling can be dis-
tinguished readily by the presence of red color. Such hybrid seedlings
proved rather sterile. This lack of fertility may be associated with the
assumed chromosome number of the hybrid (2n-19), though no count was
actually made. This number is intermediate between the parent species:
Chinese Cabbage ( 2n-20 1 and common cabbage (2n-18). The hybrids are
strong-growing, leafy plants tinged with red color and resemble a non-
heading type of Chinese Cabbage. Vegetative cuttings were made from
short portions of the leafy, flowering stalks of the hybrid plants. This type
of cutting rooted readily and gave additional numbers of the hybrid plants,
some of which were treated with colchicine. It wa.s hoped that a doubled
number of chromosomes might influence favorably the apparent lack of
fertilitv in the hybrids. Several colchicine-treated plants had extra large
flowers, large stomata, large pollen, and a greatly increased number of
chromosomes, presumably 38.
By repeated vegetative propagation, a stock of these hybrids with the
large flowers was maintained for several years. In all, about sixty plants
were grown in the field from the few seeds that could be obtained from
the C-treated hybrids. None of the F2 plants appeared promising, though