*20
/     "WIZARD OF THE VEGETABLE PATCH"
/  IT ALL STARTED WITH THE "CARROT JOB." THE CAMPBELL SOUP
/COMPANY WANTED A DRASTICALLY REMODELED CARROT, ONE WITH
/NO YELLOW IN ITS CORE, AND UNIFORM IN SIZE AND SHAPE. THE
/COMPANY FOUND THAT PALE-YELLOW CUBES AMONG DEEP-ORANGE
/CUBES IN VEGETABLE SOUP CUT DOWN EYE APPEAL AND THAT ODD-
/SHAPED CARROTS LEFT TOO MUCH WASTE WHEN THEY WENT THROUGH
/THE DICING MACHINES. THEY ASKED THE C.C. MORSE SEED CO.
/WHAT COULD BE DONE ABOUT IT.
/  FOR CENTURIES CARROTS HAD MATURED WITH YELLOW CORES AND
/IN ASSORTED SHAPES. CHANGING THEIR GROWING HABITS CALLED
/FOR HORTICULTURAL MAGIC. SO LESTER MORSE, HEAD OF THE
/FIRM, SENT FOR A RUDDY-CHEEKED YOUNG SCOT, FRANK G.
/CUTHBERTSON, WHO HAD BRED FLOWERS BUT HAD NEVER TRIED TO
/RESTYLE A VEGETABLE TO ORDER.
/  HE TACKLED THE JOB, AND OVER THE YEARS HIS EFFORTS HAVE
/BURGEONED INTO A WIDESPREAD VEGETABLE-REMODELING DRIVE.
/IN THREE DECADES CUTHBERTSON AND HIS TEAM OF HYBRIDIZERS
/HAVE REDONE SO MANY TRUCK CROPS THAT IT IS ALMOST INPOSS-
/IBLE TO SIT DOWN TO DINNER WITHOUT ENJOYING AT LEAST ONE
/OF HIS RESTYLED VEGETABLES. LAST YEAR THE AMERICAN SEED
/TRADE ASSOCIATION HONORED HIM WITH A MEDALLION FOR
/"OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO HORTICULTURE."
/  THE CARROT JOB BACK IN THE ^20^S CONFRONTED CUTHBERTSON
/AND HIS COLLEAGUE, WALTER NIXON, WITH UNIQUE OBSTACLES.
/TO BREED A STRAIN WITH ORANGE CORES, THEY FIRST HAD TO
/FIND ONE CARROT WITH ORANGE "BLOOD", THE SEEDMAN^S TERM
/FOR A TRAIT. TO FIND THAT ONE CARROT THEY GREW THOUSANDS.
/  TO GET A PEEK AT THE CORES WITHOUT CHECKING THE
/CARROTS^ FURTHER GROWTH THEY PLUGGED EACH ROOT WITH A
/SMALL GLASS TUBE. WHENEVER THE PLUG REVEALED A DARKER-
/THAN-USUAL CORE THEY REPLANTED THE CARROT, PUT A MARKER
/BESIDE IT AND WAITED PATIENTLY UNTIL THE PLANT BORE SEED.
/THEN THEY PLANTED AGAIN, REPEATING THE TEDIOUS HUNT FOR A
/DARKER-CORED CARROT.
/  EIGHT YEARS AND THOUSANDS OF CARROTS LATER CUTHBERTSON
/HAD TEN CARROTS WITH NO TRACE OF YELLOW IN THEIR CORES.
/FURTHERMORE, THEIR SIZE WAS JUST WHAT THE SOUP MAKERS
/WANTED. TODAY PROGENY FROM THOSE TEN CARROTS PRODUCE
/ENOUGH SEED ANNUALLY TO PLANT 100,000 ACRES.
/  HOME GARDENERS, CANNERS, AND PRODUCE MERCHANTS WANTED A
/BEET THAT WAS RED ALL THE WAY THROUGH AND WOULD RESIST
/MILDEW. SO CUTHBERTSON AND NIXON INDUCED BEETS TO GIVE UP
/THE CHARACTERISTIC PINK RINGS IN THEIR FLESH, THEN GREW A
/GENERATION IN FIELDS OF MILDEWED BEETS. THE PLANTS THAT
/DEFIED MILDEW BECAME THE PARENT STOCK FOR A MILDEW-
/RESISTANT STRAIN KNOWN AS MORSE^S DETROIT DARK RED. THIS
/YEAR U.S. SEED GROWERS WILL PRODUCE 300,000 POUNDS OF
/SEED OF THIS MADE-TO-ORDER BEET.
/  BUT GARDENERS WHO GROW BEETS FOR THE GREENS AS WELL AS
/FOR THE ROOTS WERE STILL UNSATISIFIED. SO THE MORSE TEAM
/BUILT A RED-FLESHED BEET WITH MANY TENDER LEAVES, CALLED
/GREEN-TOP BUNCHING. NOW EVERYBODY IN THE BEET PATCH
/IS HAPPY.
/  IRONICALLY, AFTER THE SEED OF A RESTYLED VEGETABLE IS
/INTRODUCED TO GROWERS AND GARDENERS, ANY COMPETITOR CAN
/GROW SEED. MOST OF THEM DO, SOMETIMES GIVING THE VARIETY
/ANOTHER NAME. THE VEGETABLE DESIGNER TAKES HIS REWARD IN
/PRESTIGE AMONG SEEDSMEN AND COMMERICAL GROWERS.
/  BORN IN SCOTLAND, FRANK CUTHBERTSON CAME TO SAN FRAN-
/CISCO IN 1911 WITH 20 BORROWED DOLLARS IN HIS POCKET. HIS
/FIRST JOB, AT $2.50 A DAY, WAS "ROGUING"-PULLING OUT THE
/OFF-FOLIAGE PLANTS ON THE MORSE FARM.
/  WITH THE EYE OF A PERFECTIONIST, THE YOUNG SCOT ROGUED
/SO MERCILESSLY THAT HE MADE A SHAMBLES OF THE COMPANY^S
/SWEET-PEA FIELDS. HIS RUTHLESSNESS PAID OFF. BEFORE LONG
/THE SEED OF MORSE SWEET PEAS WAS SELLING FOR FOUR TIMES
/THE PREVIOUS PRICE. (THE CUTHBERTSON SWEET PEA IS NOW
/FAMOUS.) IMPRESSED, MORSE OFFERED CUTHBERTSON AN INTEREST
/IN THE FIRM, MERGED IN 1930 WITH THE FERRY SEED COMPANY.
/TODAY CUTHBERTSON IS EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT OF FERRY-
/MORSE AND BOSS OF ALL THE CONCERN^S SEED-GROWING FARMS.
/  SOMETIMES A CUTHBERTSON MADE-TO-ORDER VEGETABLE
/LAUNCHES AN ENTIRELY NEW APPETITE. IN THE 1920^S, WHEN A
/TEAM STARTED TO WORK ON BROCCOLI, IT WAS CALLED "SPROUT-
/ING CALABRESES" AND EATEN MAINLY IN ITALIAN HOMES.
/INSTEAD OF ITS PRESENT-DAY LARGE HEAD IT PRODUCED SMALL
/BUDS WHICH SPROUTED ON MANY STEMS ALONG THE STALKS; THEY
/WERE TASTY BUT VERY DIFFICULT TO PICK. FROZEN-FOOD PROC-
/ESSORS WANTED A VARIETY THAT BORE THE BUDS IN CLUSTERS,
/LIKE THOSE OF A CAULIFLOWER - A VEGETABLE EASY TO
/HARVEST AND PACK.
/  CUTHBERTSON PLANTED BROCCOLI BY THE ACRE. HIS FIELDMEN
/WENT DOWN THE ROWS, WHACKING OUT ALL PLANTS  EXCEPT THE
/FEW THAT SHOWED A TENDENCY TO DEVELOP "UMBRELLA HEADS."
/REPEATING THIS SEASON AFTER SEASON, NINE YEARS LATER THEY
/HAD NARROWED THEIR SELECTIONS DOWN TO A NEW-STYLE BROC-
/COLI THAT DELIGHTED GROWERS AND PACKERS. PICKERS COULD
/HARVEST THE UMBRELLA HEADS WITH ONE SWEEP OF THE KNIFE;
/AT THE PROCESSING TABLES CUTTERS EASILY SLICED OFF THE
/STEM, BROKE UP THE HEAD AND LEFT THE CLUSTERS OF BUDS
/READY FOR PACKING. IN THE RAPIDLY DEVELOPING FROZEN-FOOD
/TRADE THE NEW BROCCOLI GREW FROM NOTHING IN 1939 TO 89
/MILLION POUNDS LAST YEAR. BROCCOLI NOW RANKS AMONG THE
/FROZEN-VEGETABLE BIG FOUR, ALONG WITH PEAS, LIMAS AND
/SNAP BEANS.
/  "WE MADE BROCCOLI AN AMERICAN VEGETABLE THAT HAS ALMOST
/PUSHED SPINACH OFF THE FROZEN-FOOD TABLE," SAYS CUTHBERT-
/SON, HIS EYES SPARKLING. "NOW I GUESS WE^LL HAVE TO DO
/SOMETHING ABOUT SPINACH."
/  CORRECTING A VEGETABLE^S BAD HABITS SOMETIMES TAKES
/TEN OR MORE PLANT GENERATIONS. CANNERS, FOR INSTANCE,
/WANTED THE CURVE BRED OUT OF STRINGLESS SNAP BEANS.
/STRAIGHT BEANS WOULD GO THROUGH THEIR CUTTING MACHINES 25
/PER CENT FASTER THAN THE NATURALLY CURVED BEAN. THE
/CUTHBERTSON TEAM LAUNCHED THEIR BEAN-STRAIGHTENING
/PROJECT IN 1941; 12 YEARS LATER THEY DELEIVERED BLUE LAKE
/FM-1, A BEAN WITHOUT A CURVE; IT MET CANNERS^ SPECIFIC-
/ATIONS EXACTLY.
/  AS THE FROZEN-FOOD BUSINESS BOOMED, LIMA BEANS BECAME
/A PROBLEM VEGETABLE. ABOUT ONE PER CENT OF THE BEANS HAD
/THICK SKINS, THROUGH WHICH THE FLESH SHOWED IN A BLUISH
/COLOR. THESE ARE KNOWN AS "BLUE BEANS" OR "OYSTER BEANS."
/THEY ARE JUST AS EDIBLE AS OTHER LIMAS, BUT THE PROCESS-
/ORS REPORTED, "FROZEN FOODS SELL ON APPEARANCE, AND IF
/THE HOUSEWIFE SEES ONE BLUE BEAN IN THE POT SHE IS
/UNHAPPY."
/  GETTING RID OF ONE BLUE BEAN IS ABOUT THE MOST EXASPER-
/ATING PROJECT THAT CUTHBERTSON AND HIS TEAM HAVE TACKLED.
/THEY STARTED BY PLANTING THE SEEDS FROM A SINGLE VINE
/FREE OF BLUE BEANS. THE OFFSPRING OF THIS PLANT WERE
/CAREFULLY SCRUTINIZED BY FIELDMEN, WHO, ON HANDS AND
/KNEES, OPENED PODS ON EVERY VINE. IF A SINGLE BEAN LOOKED
/BLUE THE PLANT WAS YANKED OUT. EACH YEAR OF THIS TEDIOUS
/ROGUING UNEARTHS FEWER THROWBACKS. SHORTLY CUTHBERTSON
/EXPECTS TO HAVE A STRAIN FREE OF BLUE BEANS. IT IS A
/WORTHWHILE SEARCH; PACKERS FREEZE AND SHIP 100 MILLION
/POUNDS OF LIMAS EACH SEASON.
/  IN THIS AMAZING MODERNIZATION PROGRAM NEARLY EVERY
/VEGETABLE PRESENTS A DIFFERENT PROBLEM. GROWERS WANTED A
/CORN THAT WOULD MATURE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, WHICH
/ISN^T CORN COUNTRY BECAUSE THE NIGHTS ARE TOO COLD. BY
/1950 JOHNNY MCCABE, WHO IS THE CORN EXPERT ON CUTHBERT-
/SON^S TEAM, HAD A HYBRID THAT COULD TAKE THE COLD NIGHTS
/AND WHOSE KERNELS REMAINED SWEET AND SOFT EVEN AFTER THE
/STALKS DRIED. THAT SAME YEAR JOHN MORAN, THE TOMATO MAN,
/CAME UP WITH THE HEAVY-YIELD DEEP-RED TOMATO FOR WHICH
/CANNERS HAD BEEN PRAYING.
/  A PARTIAL LIST OF THE COMMERICAL VEGETABLES RESTYLED
/UNDER CUTHBERTSON^S DIRECTION DURING THE LAST THREE
/DECADES INCLUDES MORE THAN 70 VARIETIES OF 14 VEGETABLES.
/CUTHBERTSON CONTENDS THAT NO VEGETABLE IS SO GOOD THAT IT
/CANNOT BE MADE BETTER. "VEGETABLES ARE LIKE AUTOS," HE
/SAYS. "THEY BECOME OBSOLETE-BUT THERE IS NO USED-
/VEGETABLE MARKET."