them, are his main interest. He is look- 

 ing for more efficient and safer insec- 

 ticides and new nonchemical control 

 methods. 



Forestry 



Can changes in land use and forest 

 conditions be ascertained from aerial 

 photographs? B. Husch and C. Gibbs 

 contrasted aerial photographs of 

 Madbury, N.H. taken 10 years apart 

 and concluded that these photos ap- 

 peared to reveal such trends accu- 

 rately. Husch, over a period of several 

 years, investigated selected environ- 

 mental factors — temperature, soil 

 type, soil moisture, photoperiod — on 

 growth of white pine trees in south- 

 eastern New Hampshire. All were im- 

 portant, but their relative value 

 changed during the growing season. 

 Although forest products are gener- 

 ally measured in volume units, this 

 practice has disadvantages, some of 

 which Husch believed would be cir- 

 cumvented by substituting weight as 

 the unit of measure. In a pilot study, he 

 showed that the weights of standing 

 trees could be reliably estimated and 

 that the results justified further study 

 of the concept. 



Around 1955, L. C. Swain and O. 

 P. Wallace became interested in the 

 marketing of forest products and buy- 

 ing practices of wood-using industries 

 in New Hampshire. Wallace and his 

 graduate students detailed the impor- 

 tance of white pine lumber in the in- 

 dustry, the problem of selling the lower 

 grades of lumber, the percentage of 

 lumber utilized by wood-using in- 

 dustries purchased in the state, and 

 the significance of the decline in 

 number of sawmills in the state. The 

 project was supported by Hatch re- 

 gional marketing funds. 



The importance of seedbed prepa- 

 ration on seed germination and sur- 



vival of white pine seedlings was in- 

 vestigated by silviculturist H. W. 

 Hocker, Jr. In an experiment covering 

 four years, he found that conelet pro- 

 duction of white pine trees could be 

 stimulated and sustained by fertiliza- 

 tion. J. P. Barrett and P. H. Allen used 

 regression technique to predict future 

 yield from extensively managed white 

 pine stands. 



P. E. Bruns provided the leader- 

 ship for the department for some 10 

 years beginning in 1958, a period in 

 which the scientific staff reached a 

 total of eight. 



Home Economics 



Using University of New Hampshire 

 women students, A. M. Light and S. R. 

 Shimer (Agricultural and Biological 

 Chemistry) investigated the effect of 

 substituting vegetable fat for pure 

 carbohydrate on blood phospholipid 

 levels. B. Byers and Light used a taste 

 panel to compare four varieties of 

 horticulture beans, bred by Meader 

 and Yeager in the Horticulture De- 

 partment, with several other varieties 

 following processing. They found the 

 New Hampshire varieties equalled or 

 excelled the other varieties tested. 



M. Wybourn followed A. Light 

 (now A. Light Smith) as department 

 head in 1961. 



Horticulture 



Plant breeding continued to be the 

 main emphasis of horticultural re- 

 search and capitalized on the ground- 

 work laid earlier. The overall objec- 

 tive was to change the plant to fit the 

 environment. In addition to hardiness 

 and early maturity, another objective 

 was improved insect and disease re- 

 sistance — a goal not always obtain- 

 able. Techniques utilized to reach ob- 

 jectives varied depending on the plant 

 material. In some instances , colchicine 



37 



