Dr, SoiithvicK -On Leave 



Frank Southwick and family left Aniierst the last of January to spend six months 

 on the Tifest Coast searching for new ideas. He plans to spend most of that time at 

 the Agricultural Experiment Station at Davis, California, Y/hile there he expects 

 to have intimate contact vdth their reseajxh program thereby learning what the 

 problems of their fruit industry are, how they attack them and what they have dis- 

 covered that may be of use to Massachusetts friiit growers. We shall hope to hear 

 from him occasionally and shall look foniard to his return August 1st, 



^A. P, French 



///////// /////// 



OBSERVATIONS IN CALIFORNIA 



After a fairly rough trip of 3600 miles (600 miles in snow) irjy family and I 

 finally aiade it to Davis, California, where the University of California College 

 of Agriculture is located. It is here that we plan to spend approximately five 

 months of my Sabbatical leave. As you may know the University of California has 

 eight different campuses, this one at Davis is located in North Central California, 

 about 15 miles west of Sacramento and about 75 miles erst of San Francisco, The 

 campus here is large (3000 acres), well staffed (about 25 pomologists) and vrell 

 equipped. They have about 300 acres of fruit land for teaching and research purposes 

 with about half of this area at Davis and the other half about 15 miles away at 

 ViTinters (the earliest apricot section in California), 



One of the most obvious things that is apparent to an Easterner, as we drove 

 from Bakersfield north (after coming over the Mohave desert) to Sacramento, is the 

 huge acreage of ' grapes groifm here. If my recollection is correct California pro- 

 duces at least 90 percent of all grapes grown in the U. S, They are vinifera 

 grapes gro^m for raisins, tpble use, and wine. Total acreage of grapes is nearly 

 half a million acres. In 195U the total acreage of fruit and nut crops in Calif- 

 ornia was about 1,U00,000 acres. This acreage includes all tree and nut fruit 

 crops such as almonds, apricots, citrus, figs, apples, avocados, cherries, pears, 

 plums, peaches, walnuts, etc. with the exception of small fruits. Hence, ;;^rapes 

 represent about 35 percent of the total fruit acreage. It is not surprising, 

 therefore, that there is a separate department here (Viticulture) which deals v/ith 

 grape problems exclusively. 



Another thing which has impressed me so far is the large size of peach and 

 pear trees and the vigorous groi-rth of their fruit trees, generally. Peach trees 

 12 - 15 feet high are commonplace and the best orchards may yield up to 30 tons 

 per acre. Tons I find are the unit of measure here. Pears may yield up to 25 

 tors per acre or 1100 - 1200 boxes per acre. Individual Bartlett trees may yield 

 UO or ,uore i;U lb, boxes per tree. Even the strav/berry does unusually well by 

 our standards. I am told that the Shasta variety, gro"vm by the hill system, pro- 

 aaces more or less continously throughout the spring and summer and may yield as 

 high as 30 tore per acre. In other words, strawberries uiay out yield many tree 

 fruits on an acre basis. 



Of course, weather wise, it is a little different here in February than in 

 Massachusetts. The average maximum temperature for February is 58° F at Sacramento 



