All Issues

If milk prices had increased in proportion to wages since 1950, California consumers would have been paying 57 per cent more than the prevailing prices in 1968—or about 75 cents per half-gallon in Los Angeles and 82 cents in San Francisco. The consumer's milk bill in California would have totaled almost $330,000,000 more, based on the 2.3 billion quarts of fluid milk bought in 1968. This savings is a direct result of increased production and efficiency, attributable in large part to improved record keeping and management techniques developed in herds of Dairy Herd Improvement Association members. Average production per cow on DHlA test in 1968 was 13,536 Ibs, as compared with 9,767 lbs for those not in the DHIA program (a 39 per cent increase). The total milk supply in California has increased approximately 50 per cent since 1950 with only a slight increase in cow numbers. About half of the cows in the state are now on DHIA test and these cows produce about 58 per cent of the state's fluid milk.

HAND HARVESTING costs run over $85 per acre for a 5,000-lb crop of broccoli for freezing. Mechanical harvesting of this crop, if feasible, could be done at a small fraction of this cost.

Powdery mildew is a common and serious disease in home garden and commercial (greenhouse and field) plantings of orna-mentals. Control of powdery mildew on greenhouse snapdragons with the systemic fungicide benomyl has been successful when the fungicide has been sprayed on the foliage, drenched into the soil at three-week intervals, or mixed in the soil prior to planting. Definite systemic action has resulted either from drench applications around growing plants or mixing the fungicide in the soil prior to planting. When mixed in the soil prior to planting, the effectiveness has lasted nine and a half months following addition and about seven and a half months following planting. Benomyl (Benlate) is not yet registered for use on snapdragons or other ornamentals.

ROOT ROT OF POINSETTIA is important, not only because it may kill plants during the growing season, but also because it is a principal factor in causing leaf drop both before and after the plants are marketed. This serious disease results from infection by at least three root-rotting fungi, namely Pythiwm ultimum (other Pythium species may also be involved), Rhizoctonia solani and Thielaviopsis basicola.

How to produce milk with a normal milk fat percentage is a major problem for California dairymen during the period from May to October each year. There are indications that high temperatures (85°F and up) plus the feeding of large amounts of green chop forages, which reduce fiber intake, both depress the fat composition of milk. There are a few feedstuffs and additives which, when added to the ration, will partially counteract this seasonal depression in the percentage of fat in milk; however, cost and/or low palatability makes it impractical to use most of these in a commercial dairy operation. An additive that has been suggested as promising is dried whey—a by-product of the processing of butter and cheese. Dried whey product is highly palatable and, when fed at the rate of 10 per cent of the ration, has been successfully used to maintain a normal fat test under conditions of high temperature and low fiber rations. When dried whey product is incorporated into pelleted concentrates at this level, however, mechanical difficulties develop in the pelleting process. Reduction of the level to 5 per cent of the pelleted concentrate has overcome this problem but the effect on fat percentage at this level has not been tested.

Since the invasion of Southern California desert cotton-growing areas by the pink bollworm in 1965, attempts at its eradication have been unsuccessful. In Arizona (with a longer history of permanently established infestations of this pest) its severity under similar desert growing conditions has resulted in losses estimated at from $50-$75 per acre. In both states, available chemical materials have proven very costly and less effective than hoped for and they have prompted outbreaks of several secondary pests.

One of The More Serious cultural problems in the growing of almonds in California is the poor set caused by the lack of cross-pollination during certain climatic conditions. This is especially true in some years when bloom periods do not overlap much. Since almonds bloom early, spring frosts (to which open flowers are susceptible) may also reduce fruit set. To explore the possibility of controlling the time of flower opening, preliminary trials where made in 1966 with the synthetic growth retardant, Alar. (Alar is not registered for commercial use on almonds.) These trials indicated that this compound not only reduces shoot elongation, but also extends the winter dormancy in almonds, thus delaying the opening of the blossoms.