80 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. > 



work with alfalfa, cowpeas, peas, and vetches was carried on at Davis, 

 Kearney, and in the Imperial Valley. 



Experiments with Lima beans were conducted in Ventura Coimty, 

 and in the Imperial Valley experiments with cotton were continued. 

 The station Bulletin 211, How to Increase the Yield of Wheat in 

 California, was well received, and its recommendations in ^ome 

 instances have found application on a large scale. 



An experiment with 240 varieties of grapes was conducted on 10 

 acres at Davis, and another 10 acres was devoted to experiments with 

 different stocks, with a view to finding stocks resistant to phylloxera. 

 In the Imperial Valley about 50 varieties of table grapes were grown. 

 It was found there that the Persian varieties tested were very early, 

 ship well, and in general gave good results. The little leaf disease of 

 grapes, prevalent in certain parts of the State and occurring on all 

 types of soil, was studied, and different treatments were tried for its 

 control. Laboratory work on wine making was continued, and an 

 effort was made to get California w^ine makers to adopt methods as 

 already worked out in Europe. The horticultural work at Davis 

 included tests of varieties of peaches, almonds, apricots, figs, prunes, 

 and other fruits, together with trials of tomatoes and onions. Of 

 tomatoes 270 varieties and strains were grown, and breeding experi- 

 ments were made to eliminate uneven ripening and other defects. 

 With onions, fertilizer experiments and work on the improvement of 

 seed were in progress. One of the objects of breeding work with 

 onions was to get good size to meet market requirements. In connec- 

 tion with this work on tomatoes and onions studies were made of the 

 tomato worm and of onion mildew, and attention was also given to 

 methods for combating them. Experimental work was also carried 

 on with lettuce, turnips, peas, and other truck crops. 



The station's work in vegetable pathology included studies of olive 

 knot and root rot of walnuts, oranges, and other trees. A general 

 bulletin on plant diseases in California was recently published. 



Irrigation experiments in cooperation with this office on the dutj^ 

 of water for alfalfa and grain, evaporation, cost of pumping versus 

 ditch irrigation, and on the comparative efficiency of weirs and 

 orifices were systematically conducted at Davis. 



Work in progress in the southern part of the State included fer- 

 tilizer experiments with citrus fruits, tests of cover crops in orchards 

 and in pots, and a study of the nitrogen-collecting power of different 

 leguminous plants at Riverside and the improvement of walnuts and 

 citrus fruits, together with the culture of hay crops on the sewage 

 farm at Pasadena. 



The entomological department of the station studied the honey 

 plants of California, citrus-fruit insects, the house fly in its relation 

 to public health, the black and the red orange scale, and the peach-tree 



