404 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.41 



One useful sequence of the demand for local research facilities was 

 the establishment in 1905 by the legislature of the Plant Disease 

 Laboratory at A^Hiittier. An even more important outcome was the 

 Citrus Experiment Station at Riverside, subsequently expanded into 

 the Southern California Graduate School of Semi-Tropical Agri- 

 culture and Citrus Experiment Station. 



The only line of work which was " formally predestined for the 

 California Station was, it appears, soil investigation and exposition." 

 The fundamental studies of Dr. Hilgard and his associate Dr. 

 Loughridge were summarized in these pages at the time of their re- 

 tirement from active service in 1909 ^ Starting in 1877 with analyses 

 of a few California soils the work was steadily continued and 

 developed, embracing the first comprehensive soil survey in this 

 country, the first systematic investigation of the alkaline soils of the 

 Pacific slope, the classic researches of the soils of regions deficient 

 in rainfall, and many other phases of soil investigation of the utmost 

 value. 



Mention has already been made of the importance attached in the 

 pioneer days to plant introduction and distribution. Despite the 

 shortage of land a garden of economic plants was begun in 1879 and 

 continued with some modifications until 1918, when its site was 

 utilized for military purposes. This garden attracted much atten- 

 tion from visitors, and served as a source of supply for the annual 

 distribution of seeds and plants for many years. Special attention 

 was given to the testing of drought-resistant perennial forage plants, 

 and much service was rendered in demonstrating the suitability of 

 numerous species and the worthlessness of others. Another impor- 

 tant phase was with cereals, including tests to demonstrate the possi- 

 bility of growing in the State wheat rich in gluten. Other work 

 had to do with forest trees, notably eucalyptus, some of these trials 

 being conducted at the forestry substation established and main- 

 tained at Santa Monica. 



As a specific illustration of the extent to which the policies of the 

 station were shaped by insistent demand from the public rather than 

 its own conception of what was fundamental and most widely use- 

 ful. Professor Wickson cites the development of viticultural work 

 from the standpoint of wine making. In 1875, soon after the open- 

 ing of the station, wine analyses were begun. Field studies of the 

 phylloxera were instituted the same year, and the work as a whole 

 was so developed that from 1880 to 1895 the station publications on 

 viticulture were almost equal in volume to those on all other subjects 

 combined. A viticultural laboratory was definitely established in 

 1880, following State appropriations of $3,000 per annum, a portion 

 of the one-story university carpenter's shop being utilized for the 

 purpose after a small cellar had been excavated for fermentation 

 studies. In recent years attention has been concentrated more largely 



1 Experiment Station Recor.l, 21, p. 1. 



