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Very few Choice or Premium grade White Fir Christmas trees were found growing in the understory of giant sequoias at Whitaker's Forest, Tulare County.

A leaf nitrogen content of 2.3% or higher in June should be considered their goal by pear growers, according to this study in Lake and Sacramento counties. Leaf analysis offers a good basis for determining whether sufficient nitrogen exists for adequate fruit set. Once this level has been obtained, an individual orchard evaluation is necessary to determine the minimum rate needed to maintain it. However, if higher levels are encountered, there need be little concern about adverse effects on fruit quality, but only that more money may have been spent for fertilizer than necessary.

Greenhouse trials were conducted on potted poinsettias in the fall of 1966 at the Paul Ecke Ranch, San Diego County, with the following objectives: (1) to compare the standard rates of the growth retardantes, 2-Chloroethyltrimethylammonium choride (Cycocel) used as a pot drench and N-Dimethylaminosuccinamic acid (B-Nine) applied as a foliage spray; (2) to compare the two retardantes when both are used as foliage sprays; and (3) to determine possible injury resulting from two spray applications 10 days apart.

Two questions yet to be fully answered in the development of the colorful Gerbera as a major cut flower in California include consumer acceptance and economy of production. The wide range of colors, both pastel and fluorescent, and of flower types including singles, doubles, quilled and frilled, would seem to promise a definite consumer demand. To date, insufficient production of quality flowers precludes an adequate test of the market potential. One of several production trials made at commercial nurseries throughout the state is described here.

Present-day strawberry culture demands a field clean of weeds. This is particularly true in some areas of California where the practice of covering beds with a clear polyethylene film for several months (beginning usually in January or February) creates a unique problem from the standpoint of weed control. Weeds grow rank under clear polyethylene, and hand labor for weed control underneath the film is costly. The combination of a long harvest period plus the fruit's proximity to the ground places a high value on minimum cultivation.

The tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) has long been a serious problem to growers of fresh market peppers. In order to reduce these losses, a new TMV-resistant wax (yellow) variety named Caloro and two TMV-resistant strains of California (Anaheim) Chili, 57M30 and 57M75, for green chili use have been released.

The bacterial blight pathogen, Xanthomonas malvacearum on cotton, Gossypium hirsutum, has not been found in San Joaquin Valley fields since 1961. Its ability to survive for up to seven years in dried cotton refuse might lead to long-term contamination of cotton gins, however. This would in turn provide an opportunity for the pathogen to again contaminate planting seed, with consequent recurrence of the disease in the field. Field eradication, dilution of contaminated refuse, and decreasing viability of the pathogen with age were expected to result in the disappearance of the pathogen from cotton gins in California. This report deals with attempts to determine whether contamination was still present, particularly in gins from which X. malvacearum had previously been isolated—as well as a large number of other gins in the area where bacterial blight was once prevalent.

The average water application on the 60,000 acres being farmed in Coachella Valley is about seven acre-feet per acre per year. Infiltration rates are high, especially on the high ground. As a result practically the entire valley under canal irrigation has a high water table and must be artificially drained. Tile installations were started in 1949. By 1967 there were approximately 1600 miles of drain tile on farms. An extensive outfall system has been installed and maintained by the Coachella Valley County Water District. Both the water distribution system and the drainage system are almost entirely underground. Problems with poor water infiltration through the usual envelope of sand surrounding the tiles, led to this study of the effectiveness of pea gravel as a tile envelope.

Two trials, using a total of 40 pigs to compare ground milo with milo processed at 20 psi steam pressure for 11/2 minutes before grinding, showed no significant differences in rate of gain, feed conversion, or carcass characteristics.