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Benlate, a new systemic fungicide, has recently given excellent control of Botrytis or “fire” of Easter lily foliage in northwest California. Benlate 50W, applied to lilies in 1968, at the rate of 2 lbs of the formulation per acre, produced control equal to, or better than, the standard Bordeaux mixture. Further trials were initiated in 1969 to compare Benlate with Bordeaux in a large scale trial and to test different rates of material in small experimental plots. In another test, bulbs were dipped prior to planting to determine if there was enough systemic activity to control Botrytis through part or all of the season. Disease control in these dipped bulbs was compared with the standard PCNB-Ferbam dip.

The effects from early and late defoliation of cotton on the numbers of overwintering pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), were studied in the Imperial Valley of southern California. Fewer moths emerged from cotton defoliated in September than from October defoliations. Cotton defoliated in early September resulted in a 90 per cent reduction in emerging moths the following spring, while cotton defoliated in late September resulted in only a 66 per cent reduction in emerging moths.

An economic analysis of mechanical harvesting of cling peaches is being conducted by the Farm Production Economics Division, Economic Research Service, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the University of California. Peach harvesting machines were observed during the 1970 season, using Modesto as the study area center. Following the harvest, interviews were conducted with farmers employing hand crews and with those using mechanical harvesting equipment. The objectives of the study are to analyze the effects of labor-machinery substitution, and to provide farmers with a frame of reference in adjusting to the changing technology. Preliminary observations about the experience of 16 machine operators are reported here, pending a full report on the study which is to be published later this year.

Growth responses were obtained in tests with yearling steers fed a low-protein roughage by making available in a saltlick, non-protein nitrogen (urea or biuret). Levels of at least 2 or 3 lbs per head per day of cottonseed meal supplement were needed to obtain comparable growth rates. Urea was also fed in a liquid supplement, using phosphoric acid to control intake, and resulted in a benefit from both the urea and the molasses. Yearling steers restricted for 3 to 4 months to a low-protein roughage diet made satisfactory gains when given a high energy ration in the feedlot.

This article discusses environmental factors influencing the partition of sugar products between the tops and storage roots of sugar beets. Root size was found to be related in a specific way to top size. This root-to-top relationship was unaffected by changes in light intensity but was affected by change in temperature or nitrogen supply. Storage roots grew and stored sugar by the continual addition of new cells.

Annual fumigation with methyl-bromide-chloropicrin mixtures is still a paying proposition after six successive years of strawberry cropping on the same soil in Southern California.