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Investigations with gibberellin sprays –initiated in the summer of 1957–were carried out in commercial celery fields in Orange, Ventura, and San Diego counties, during the summer, fall, and winter production periods.

Four hay conditioning machines– two models of smooth-roll crushers and two models of crimpers–were used in tests in 1958 on all six cuttings of a four-year-old alfalfa field at Davis.

A tiny wasp, the clover seed chalcid– Bruchophagus gibbus (Boh.)–is of increasing importance as a major pest in central California alfalfa seed producing areas. The insect has long been known in California and its damage has been particularly severe in the southern desert regions.

Barlett pear canners have been concerned with brown flesh areas called brown spot that are not externally evident but are found upon peeling of pears.

Three varieties of potatoes–White Rose, Pontiac, and Kennebec–were harvested mechanically to study the operational efficiency of the machines and to make a comparison between the amount of damage to the potatoes by mechanical and by hand harvesting. Six two-row, direct harvesting type–digging and loading in one operation–machines of the same make were used. The harvesters were pulled by track type tractors of 40-15 horsepower but had their own engines or operating the harvester mechanisms. The studies were made in three fields near Arvin and in two fields near Edison.

The validity of the assumption–that nitrogen losses, by leaching, are small when ammonium fertilizers are applied in the fall–was tested in a series of incubation experiments.

Nearly 50 acres of apricot trees in the Patterson area of Stanislaus County were killed when the water table rose to within 3' of the surface in 1955. Several hundred additional acres were threatened by a rising water table.

Biological control of California red scale– Aonidiella aurantii (Mask.)–by natural enemies, especially parasites, may be achieved in some citrus-producing areas of southern California. However, in many instances other citrus pests present in the same areas may be of sufficient magnitude to necessitate regular or periodic insecticidal treatment.

In the second year of tests, Guthion and Sevin–not yet released for use on walnuts–again showed encouraging control of the filbertworm on Payne and Franquette walnuts.

The immediate commercial value of research information enabling scientists to solve rapidly many of the problems facing agriculture has been demonstrated repeatedly; what might have happened without this information is awesome to contemplate.