THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 541 



Field work implies investigational work, and the data gathered dur- 

 ing these investigations has been permanently recorded in the form of 

 notes, Monthly Bulletin articles, one special publication, "Apple Grow- 

 ing in California," and 325 photographic negatives which are used for 

 illustrating articles in the I\Ionthly Bulletin and elsewhere, and in 

 making lantern slides for lectures. 



A special study is now being made of pear culture in California, in 

 hopes that it may be possible to publish a bulletin on the subject some 

 time in the near future. In connection with pear studies some very 

 important problems have arisen and much valuable data have been 

 gathered. Probably chief among the problems is that concerning the 

 woolly or root aphis of the pear, which was not known outside of one 

 or two small localities prior to the beginning of these investigations in 

 1913. This insect is found on pear only in one other state of the 

 Union, viz., Oregon, and is now thought to be a new species. The 

 mountain counties producing pears have this pest to deal with, and it 

 is now known to be so serious that every care must be exercised in the 

 inspection of nursery trees in order to detect the presence of the lice, 

 and subsequently to treat the trees for its eradication. 



Another pest that had never been recorded in California previous to 

 1913, is the pear leaf russet mite, which is found to be common and 

 generally distributed throughout all the main pear growing sections; 

 it is not easily detected, being microscopic in size, but its injury, 

 consisting of a russeting followed by drying and dropping of leaves 

 in serious cases, is very noticeable. 



A very interesting and promising new variety of pear has been under 

 observation in the orchard of J. E. Hassler, county horticultural com- 

 missioner of El Dorado County. It is a chance seedling, evidently 

 from a Bartlett, as the tree looks like this variety. Its late blooming 

 characteristic, late ripening, and excellent quality make it a promising 

 pear for winter use^ and it is now being propagated in an experimental 

 way. 



An investigation of the pruning methods used with all the difiPerent 

 fruits has been conducted, and an experiment in pruning orange trees 

 is now under way in Fresno Count3^ 



The white fly problem at Llarysville has been given considerable 

 attention and a spraying campaign has kept the pest well under 

 control. 



The lack of available accurate data on acreage, production of fruits, 

 and condition of crops at any specified time made it seem advisable for 

 the State Commission of Horticulture to gather such reports and 

 statistics through the county horticultural commissioners. These 

 officials are recpiired by law to report to the State office, and as they 

 represent practically every important fruit growing county of the 

 State, and can become familiar with conditions through almost con- 

 stant work in the field, their services in this respect have been extremely 

 valuable. While the accuracy of these statistics has been questioned in 

 a few instances, the motive usually w^as found to originate in the boost- 

 ing spirit w^hich seems to be very hard to eliminate. It is true that 

 mistakes have occurred, but these have made it possible to get at facts 



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