Lawton, Harry W. : College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Weathers, Lewis G. :

75 years of citrus research History of the Citrus Research Center Lewis G . Weathers , Associate Deanof Research and Professor of Plant Pathology , and Harry W . Lawton , Administrative Analyst , College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences rom the start of the California citrus industry 1860s , the pioneer citrus growers of in the F southern California , many of them retired business or professional men from New England or the central states , showed an eagerness to explore every innovative method of production or market - ing that might increase profits . In 1886 , Joseph Wolfskill , an early grower , con - ducted his own experiments with tent fumigation . 1888 , he joined U.S . Department of Agriculture In ( USDA ) entomologist Albert Koebele in the first test Vedalia biological control experiments to beetles from Australia against cottony - cushion 18 months , the pest scale in his orchards . Within was almost eliminated in California . Growers S . Teague and C.C . Chapman conducted Charles their own fertilization studies . Citrus cooperatives A 1927 painting by R.C . Steadman investigated ways to halt fruit decay and tested for the U.S . Departmentof Agri - new marketing concepts . Cold storage experiments culture of fruit from one of the were carried out by growers pushing for refriger - original three Washington navel carry fruit across the continent by ated boxcars to orange trees sent to Mrs . Eliza rail . In 1882 , the California Fruit Transportation Tibbets and planted in Riverside a citrus Company triumphantly announced sending in 1873 . One tree is still alive at its original site . 18 days , where Queen Vic - shipment to London in toria sampled an orange and â?? pronounced it pal - â?? no bronze plaques honor his memory - but John atable . â?? Citrus growers and their organizations have been as the founder of the Henry Reed deserves credit credited for the vigorous lobbying that led to Citrus Experiment Station . establishment of the Citrus Experiment Station in A retired educator from Ohio , Reed arrived in 1907 . Yet one manâ??s role in that effort has been 1890 and began to grow citrus . He Riverside in almost forgotten . No buildingsbear his name and won became a tireless advocate of scientific meth - ods . In 1895 , he founded the Riverside Horticul - state . He tural Club - the first such club in the helped found similar clubs in other cities , organ - History of the Citrus a leader in many ized farmers â?? institutes , and was 1896 , he activities related to the citrus industry . In ResearchCenter 1 was chairman of a growers â?? group that conducted the first scientific experiments on orchard heating , Breedingand development 4 at â?? heating the outdoors . â?쳌 despite public laughter He conducted many investigations on his own , includingstudies of citrus root systems and split - Culturalpractices 7 ting in navel oranges , which were published by agriculturaljournals . Concerned about fruit decay Diseasesand their control 10 in the long transit to market , Reed hounded the USDA until it sent G . Harold Powell to Riverside for six years of research that improved fruit hand - Insect pests and ling and saved growers thousands of dollars annu - their control ally . Later , he persuaded the USDA to send A.D . 13 CR - 1 USDA field laboratory in Eustis , Florida , was ap - Shame1to Riverside to conduct research on citrus pointed to fill both posts . Webber proved to have a breeding . set a course for the genius for administration and In 1900 , at a meeting of the Farmers â?? Institute in CES that by the 1930shad made it the worldâ??s Pasadena , Reed proposed establishment of a citrus leading research institution in citrus and subtrop - experiment station . His speech struck an enthus - ical horticulture - a position it still maintains . iastic note among growers , and for the next five The great freeze of 1913that devastated south - years , he pressed the issue up and down the state . ern Californiaorchards became an impetus to He and a committee of Riverside growers took the reorganization of the Rubidoux facilities . Alarmed proposal to the state legislature . growers launched a campaign to enlarge the CES . In 1905 , the California legislature passed an act In 1913 , the legislature appropriated funds for a authorizing the University of Californiato estab - A fierce battle ensued in new site and buildings . lish an experiment station to meet the needs of which San Fernando Valley almost seized the CES southern Californiagrowers . Three commissioners from Riverside . An 81 - year - old John Henry Reed appointed by the legislature ( Governor George C . joined the struggle , urging the Regents to keep the Pardee , University President Benjamin Ide experiment station at Riverside . On December 22 , Wheeler , and Professor E.J . Wickson ) , after sev - 1914 , Webber and a prominent group of River - eral site - inspection trips to southern California , siders made a last - ditch plea for the city and made recommended setting up a single research institu - their point : the Regents went into executive ses - tion with two branches : a pathological laboratory John Henry Reed , sion and voted 14 to 4 in favor of Riverside . in Riverside , in Whittier and an experiment station founder of the Citrus The new site ( 475 acres ) was established at the home of the Washington navel orange . ExperimentStation . foot of Box SpringsMountains , about five miles east of the Rubidoux site . The main building , con - structed in the so - called Spanish mission style , was dedicated on March 27 , 1918 . Within a decade the staff Webber had formed was making significant research discoveriesin irri - gation , soils and plant nutrition , insect pest control , plant breeding , plant diseases , and horti - culture . Webber also guided the growth of the e - largest citrus collection in the world at Riversid 1,200species and varieties of trees - which have since produced more than 10,000hybrids . The first few years of the CES were marked by achievements that saved Californiaagriculture soilsin millions of dollars . Research on black alkali the 1920sprovided the first complete explanation of their origin and nature , leading to the reclama - tion of thousands of acres of land throughout the OriginalCitrus Exper - iment Station staff in On February 14 , 1907 , the Regents of the Univer - world . CES entomologistswere at the forefront of 1916 . Front row , from sity established the Citrus Experiment Station - early studies in biological control . In 1927 , when left : as the Rubidoux Laboratory - on a known at first the citrus industry was endangered by citrophilus C.O . Smith , 30 - acre site leased on the slopes of Mount Rubi - mealybug , a natural enemy was found in Australia J.T . Barrett , doux . Ralph E . Smith , a plant pathologist , was that brought the problem under control . With the L.D . Batchelor , named administrator for both the Whittier and discovery that little leaf - a serious affliction of H.S . Reed , CES scien - Rubidoux branches . A two - story laboratory was citrus - was caused by zinc deficiency , W.P . Kelley , tists went on to make numerous other contribu - built in 1912 and today is occupied by the USDA H.J . Webber . tions to the nutrition of citrus and other crops . Salinity Laboratory . The earliest work of the Back row : The monument to the Webber era , begun in about Citrus Experiment Station ( CES ) was concentrated H.J.Quayle , E.E . Thomas , The Citrus 1930 , was a massive two - volume work , on soil management research to improve citrus W.M . Mertz , quality and productivity . A citrus variety collec - Industry , edited by Webber and Leon D . Batchelor H.B . Frost , tion was also begun at the Rubidoux Laboratory . and published in 1946 . These volumes , summing H.S . Fawcett , up several decades of hard - won knowledge of Rapid growth of southern Californiaagriculture W.D . Drew , as the â?? Bible of the Citrus citrus , became known and development of new crops such as the R.S . Vaile . Industry . â?쳌 The encyclopedic work has been ex - avocado soon made it obvious that more research panded into a five - volume revision , four volumes was needed to solve expanding production prob - of which have been published , to date , by the Uni - lems . In 1912 , Thomas F . Hunt , Dean of the of California . versity Universityâ??sCollege of Agriculture and Director of In 1928 , Leon D . Batchelor , a horticulturist , the Statewide Agricultural Experiment Station , formulated a long - range , plan for crop research in became the second director of the CES , following southern California . The title of Director of the Webberâ??sretirement . During his tenure , the exper - iment station expanded into many new research Citrus Experiment Station and Dean of the Gradu - areas and began studying most of the mqjor crops ate School of Tropical Agriculture was created , of southern California . One of the first agricul - and a search was begun to fill these posts . ex - turists to realize the value of statistics and Herbert John Webber , a professor of plant breed - perimental plot design , Batchelor initiated many ing at Cornell University , who had conducted citrus breeding studies from 1892to 1897in a CR - 2 long - term fertilizer experiments . Studies in citrus tor of the CRC - AES . Soon afterward , Dugger also genetics and breeding led to new commercialvari - assumed the associate directorship when Day eties of citrus and the improvement of quality transferred to Berkeley . Under Dugger , applied through the use of nucellar seedlings . Research in research was broadened and basic research ex - preharvest and postharvest physiology brought as molec - panded into new disciplinary areas , such about the development of optimum conditions for ular biology , integrated pest management , plant storage of citrus and avocados . Investigations were genetics , climatology , and environmental protec - begun into herbicides that would reduce losses tion . The experiment stationâ??s program was rede - from weeds . Increasing emphasis was given to signed to meet the unique research needs of an breeding experiments with vegetables . During the increasingly urbanized southern California . Main Batchelor years , CES scientists also began the first ( 1 ) subtropical thrusts of the new program were : and desert crop production ; ( 2 ) urban and sub - studies of effects of air pollution on crops . urban plant industry with a stress on ornamental ( 3 ) scientific disciplinesrelated horticulture ; and Perhaps the most dramatic research of the Bat - to pest control and management , environmental planning , and environmental protection . chelor era was the successful fight against tristeza disease , which had wiped out much of the citrus 1970s , the CRC - AESbegan to play an in - In the industry of South America , South Africa , and in research on problems creasinglyimportant role 1930s , tristeza began spreading rap - Java . In the related to growing crops in arid and semiarid idly in California , dooming hundreds of thousands regions . New crops developed for semiarid condi - of citrus trees . In 1946 , CES investigators estab - tions includejojoba , better yielding varieties of lished that tristeza was caused by a virus , and that sesame , and turfgrass with high tolerance for air the sour orange rootstock was responsible . The pollution and salinity . The experiment station industry was saved by development of a new as a leading research center in plant tis - emerged - the Troyer citrange . disease - resistant rootstock sue culture . From its laboratories have come tech - 1930s CES researchers also began to investi - In the niques for propagating disease - free plants for gate new compounds for controlling insect pests . many food , fiber , and ornamental species . Soil Out of these studies emerged the first commer - scientists began addressing problems of waste dis - as a cially successfulsynthetic organic acaricide posal and nitrate pollution . New basic research weapon against red spider mites in citrus and showed the essential role of vitamin D in animal walnut . metabolism and indicated that further elaboration of crassulacean acid metabolism might lead to 1952 under Alfred M . Boyceâ??slead - Beginning in breakthroughs in drought - resistant plants . CRC - ership , the experiment station entered its period as research sought to keep pace AES scientists also continued to address them - of greatest growth with the tremendous post - World War I1 agricul - selvesto the perennial problems of agriculture , tural boom in southern California . New depart - as weeds , new pests , and plant diseases that such have existed since man first embarked on crop - ments were added in research areas requiring 10,000years ago . growing about increased specialization.With the appearance of the organochlorineand organophosphorus com - pounds , CES entomologistsconducted research on as DDT , malathion , and para - x d a y under Irwin Sherman , CRC - AES research - new pesticidessuch a leading role in studies of are tackling new research problems that will thion . They also played ers 21st century : increasing the insect resistance to pesticides and developed a carry them into the - tech - methodology for measuring insect residues yield and nutrient content of crops through recom - binant DNA ; control of diseases and pests by niques that became widely used in obtaining fed - tailoring chemicals and predators to act only on eral approval for safe use of commercialpesticides . 1950s was the Among the major triumphs of the target organisms ; improving weather forecasting ; making photosynthesis more efficient through gen - team research that halted the devastating march of the spotted alfalfa aphid . etic manipulation and the development of light 1960 , the Regents made U.C . , Riverside , a trapping devices ; and restoring marginal soil to In general campus of the University and authorized crop production through development of more formation of a College of Agriculture - which later toxin - tolerant plants and the removal and detoxifi - became the College of Natural and Agricultural cation of wastes . Sciences . CES was renamed the Citrus Research The CRC - AES has grown from a small , local Center and Agricultural Experiment Station ( CRC - research station employingtwo staff members to a AES ) to reflect a broader scope of research . Boyce 846 people , ap - major research center staffed by as first dean of the new college , establish - served 300 of whom are engaged in both proximately an agricultural teaching component that was ing research and teaching . Total University of Califor - allied to the CRC - AES through joint faculty and nia research funding in 1981 - 82 was about $ 11 research appointments . The college strengthened million , with private contracts and grants increas - agricultural research through interrelationships ing the centerâ??s funding to $ 18 million . Research that gradually developed between CRC - AES scien - 150 agricultural com - ? ncompassesmore than tists and researchers in other disciplinesof the 20 percent of the projects still modities with biological and physical sciences . levoted to citrus . The experiment station John 1968 , W . Mack Dugger , a When Boyce retired in Henry Reed envisioned has through the years re - botanist , became dean of the college , and Boysie peatedly saved California citrus and other crops Day , a weed scientist , was named associate direc - from destructive pests and diseases . It has paid for tself many times over in developing new crops md crop varieties and new methods of production . CR - 3