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Since about 1957 increasing numbers of apricot trees in coastal and central California counties have suffered from a limb dieback disorder that, until recently, was confused with the bacterial canker disease. This disease is now known to be caused by a fungus called Cytosporina, or in the sexual stage, Eutypa armeniacae, that had been previously reported as causing a serious limb dieback disease of apricots in Australia.

Advantages of using overhead rotating sprinklers to irrigate container plants in the nursery outweighed disadvantages in a recent trial at Sacramento. Some of the factors to be considered in each case to determine feasibility include: soil drainage, size of plants, costs of system, water needs, water quality, and evaporation.

Greater resistance to spider mites is the goal of a breeding program underway with Acala cotton at the U. S. Cotton Research Station, Shaffer. Differences in susceptibility to spider mites, previously observed between genetic cotton types, are being utilized in present efforts to develop a mite-resistant cotton. Spider mite infestations have increased steadily since 1945 and this group of pests (Tetranychus spp.) now ranks as a major problem for cotton growers in California.

Full supplementation by free-choice feeding of either rolled or ground barley to cattle on irrigated pastures brought them to acceptable slaughter condition within a 120- to 150-day feeding period—as previously reported in California Agriculture. Additional trials conducted using the same pastures have shown that rolled milo is equally acceptable when full-fed with pasture.

Variety trials with cos or romaine-type lettuce indicate that quicker-maturing varieties will soon be available to San Diego County growers. The breeding line 60,375 was found to mature well ahead of the standard variety, Parris Island. Total yields were similar, and the new variety also has attractive dark-green leaves of good quality and size for an attractive pack.

MODESTO ASH (Fraxinus velutina ‘Modesto’), often used as a landscaping tree in California, tends to form sharp-angle attachments between the lateral branches and the main trunk. As the branches and trunk increase in diameter, bark becomes imbedded in these sharp-angle crotches, thus impairing the strength of the attachment of the branch to the trunk. As the tree matures, reaching out to 30 feet high and wide, the weight of each branch creates a tremendous strain at the branch-trunk union. Serious splitting off of branches is occurring with many Modesto Ash trees because of this inherent weakness of the branch-trunk union.

Considerable amounts of green feed can be produced from cereals for use after mid-November in the Sacramento and upper San Joaquin Valley areas, if attention is given to planting dates.