All Issues

The grazing capacities of many California rangelands are seriously decreased by weeds—undesirable plants—that crowd out the desirable range plants, change the season of best range use, injure foraging animals, and make even more difficult the establishment of better varieties of forage plants.

Yellow tip—a chlorosis of the tips of citrus leaves—results either from foliage sprays or from soil applications of urea containing an excess of biuret.

Epizootics—corresponding to disease epidemics among humans—almost wiped out the spotted alfalfa aphid—Therioaphis maculata (Buckton)—in some fields in the Del Mar Valley of San Diego County during the late summer.

Strawberry plants of the Lassen variety dug from nursery beds in Tehama County in late November 1954 have yielded two thirds of a full crop during 1955 in San Diego plantings.

Tests conducted during the 1954 season showed that 93% of green, pickling olive fruits can be mechanically removed from Mission trees early in November. A higher harvest percentage resulted with the more mature oil fruit during January and February.

Topworking — or topgrafting — to change varieties found unsatisfactory for growing in the avocado orchard at Riverside is used instead of planting a new young tree because a topworked tree comes into production several years sooner and the quality and performance of a new variety can therefore be evaluated earlier. Topworked trees have ranged in age from six to 10 years.

High-milk-producing goats require concentrates in their ration—in addition to roughage—because they are physically incapable of consuming enough bulky food to meet their production requirements.