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To evaluate the relative merits of hybrid varieties of grain sorghum 23 hybrids were grown in comparison with established varieties in trials conducted in grain sorghum growing areas of the state. Most of the trials involved non-replicated strip plantings in commercial fields. The cultural practices—including harvest—were typical of those used by growers in the particular areas where the tests were made.

Oats harvested at the 18% flower stage produced the greatest nutrient yield in studies—feeding trials, digestion trials and chemical analyses of the forage—to evaluate the feeding value of oat hay.

Poor fruit set is a problem in the Clementine—Algerian—mandarin wherever it is grown.

Olive trees will not survive winter temperatures below 10°F-12°F, but they require relatively cold winters to produce satisfactory commercial crops.

Infestations of root-lesion nematodes—Pratylenchus vulnus—occur in all important walnut growing areas in California and high population densities cause a disease of economic importance. The disease is characterized by stunting, die-back, and chlorosis in the tops of the trees; by yield reduction; and by root symptoms consisting of black lesions, longitudinal cracking, and even death of entire roots. The disease has been induced experimentally by adding a suspension of the root-lesion nematodes to California black walnut seedlings.

Chemical control of the sugar-beet nematode—Heterodera schachtii—would eliminate disadvantages of control by crop rotation which normally requires at least 3—4 years of non-host crops. In some areas the only alternate crops which can be grown are not so profitable as sugar beets or are themselves hosts of the nematode.

Light fruit set of navel oranges and—to a lesser degree—of Valencia oranges often occurs and growth regulators tested in California in the past have failed to increase the set. However, certain gibberellin treatments—in preliminary experiments—have increased fruit set on lime, lemon, and orange trees.

The following article is the fifth of a series of reports on a survey of characteristics of and services offered by retail grocery stores in five counties in California made cooperatively by the Department of Home Economics, University of California, and the United States Department of Agriculture under the authority of the Research and Marketing Act as part of Western Regional Research Project WM-26.