University of California Citrus Experiment Station facts for kids
The University of California Citrus Experiment Station was the first part of the University of California, Riverside campus in Riverside, California, United States. This station played a huge role in growing oranges and helping the entire farming industry in California. It started on February 14, 1907, and celebrated its 100th birthday in 2007.
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The University of California Citrus Experiment Station
The Rubidoux Laboratory: Early Days
The "citrus belt" in Southern California grew very quickly in the 1870s. This happened after people started growing navel oranges in Riverside. These oranges came from cuttings brought from Bahia, Brazil. In just 20 years, orange groves stretched from Pasadena to Redlands.
A citrus grower named John Henry Reed first suggested creating a state-funded science station just for citrus research. He worked hard to get the local citrus industry to support this idea. Reed also helped start a way for growers to work together on new plantings. He wrote many papers about citrus and other farming topics.
Miguel Estudillo, a state assembly member from Riverside, worked with Reed. They helped create a bill to set up a research lab and experiment station in Southern California. On February 14, 1907, the University of California Regents officially opened the UC Citrus Experiment Station (CES). It was on 23 acres (93,000 m2) of land on Mount Rubidoux in Riverside.
At first, only two scientists worked at the station, which was called the Rubidoux Laboratory. Their main goal was to study problems with soil management. This included topics like fertilization, irrigation, and making crops better.
Growing and Moving to Box Springs
In 1913, a very bad freeze hit the Southern California citrus industry. This caused a lot of worry because the industry was worth $175 million. People demanded more state money for farming research. The California Legislature then provided $185,000 to make the Citrus Experiment Station bigger. It was to be moved to one of the eight southern counties.
Herbert John Webber, a professor and the new director of the CES, looked at different places for the station. He worked with Riverside leaders and local growers. They suggested moving the station to its current spot, which was 475 acres ([convert: unit mismatch]) from downtown Riverside. This new land was next to the Box Springs Mountains.
On December 14, 1914, the UC Regents agreed to the new location. Everyone in Riverside was very happy! The city celebrated with whistles and bells. John Henry Reed called it "the most important day" in Riverside's history.
The new station would be run by Webber. He spent the next few years finding scientists for the research team. There were eleven scientists in six groups: agricultural chemistry, plant physiology, plant pathology, entomology, plant breeding, and orchard management.
Webber also started the UCR Citrus Variety Collection. This was a 5 acres (20,000 m2) area planted with about 500 types of citrus from all over the world. It grew to be the largest collection of its kind. He also planted many other subtropical crops, like 70 kinds of avocado. These avocados produced over 45,000 new hybrid plants through careful pollination.
The first lab, farm, and housing buildings at the Box Springs site were designed in the Mission style. This style reminded people of California's Spanish past. The new site opened in 1917. Today, the original Rubidoux site is used by the UC Center for Water Resources.
Discoveries During Webber's Time
Webber was the director of the CES from 1913 until he retired in 1929. During his time, the station made many important discoveries:
- Walter P. Kelly found ways to improve drainage for land that had too much salt. This helped make thousands of acres of land useful again.
- Scientists developed new chemical fertilizers.
- They learned about boron poisoning and how to control it. They also found that tiny amounts of boron were needed for citrus to grow.
- Howard B. Frost did important genetic research. He found the normal number of chromosomes for some citrus plants. He also discovered polyploidy in citrus, which means plants have extra sets of chromosomes. His work helped create new citrus cultivars (plant types).
- Howard S. Faucet studied different plant diseases, especially gummosis. His work led to better ways to control diseases. He also helped discover that some diseases were caused by viruses. One virus caused 3 million orange trees to die over 25 years.
- H.J. Quale studied insects and mites that harmed citrus and walnut trees. He was the first to notice that insects could become resistant to fumigation (a way to kill pests with gas). He also found ways to overcome this problem.
- Harry H. Smith and Harold Compere found natural parasites of the citrophilus mealybug in Australia. These tiny creatures helped control the mealybug in California. This saved orange growers in Orange County almost $1 million in crop losses each year.
While the station focused mostly on citrus, it also helped improve other major crops grown in Southern California.
The Citrus Research Center and Agricultural Experiment Station
After Webber retired in 1929, Leon Dexter Batchelor became the second director. Under his leadership, the station grew a lot. It started new areas of agricultural science, like statistics and how to design experiments. They also studied herbicides to control weeds and the first effects of air pollution on crops. During this time, the station fought a new type of Citrus tristeza virus. About 9,000 trees (87% of the station's orchards) had to be destroyed to stop the disease from spreading.
When Batchelor retired in 1951, Alfred M. Boyce became the new director. The station continued to grow as farming in Southern California boomed after World War II. The old way of organizing into divisions changed to departments. Five new departments were added, including the first nematology department in the country. A group to research air pollution was also created in 1953.
By its 50th anniversary in 1957, the Citrus Experiment Station had grown from 2 staff members to 265. It had many new buildings and did a wider range of research. The lab became very well known in the citrus industry. In 1961, its name changed to the Citrus Research Center and Agricultural Experiment Station (CES-AES). Alfred M. Boyce was the director at this time, and Boyce Hall, a building for the Entomology and Biochemistry Departments, is named after him.
Later Developments
In the 1970s, research at the station started using new science methods, like molecular biology and genetics. Protecting the environment and farming in dry (arid) and partly dry (semiarid) areas became new main topics.
New crops were developed, including types of turfgrass that could handle salty soil and air pollution. Scientists continued to focus on Biological control (using natural enemies to control pests) and integrated pest management (using different methods to control pests). For example, bringing in a tiny stingless wasp helped control the ash whitefly. This fly caused millions of dollars in damage to crops and even messed up cars. This success brought a lot of attention to the station's research.
In the last 25 years, the station has released several new types of citrus. This includes the 'Oroblanco' grapefruit in 1981 and the 'Tango' mandarin more recently. Another research program created types of cowpea plants that grow quickly and can handle heat. These are very good for dry conditions in West Africa, helping to reduce hunger and poverty there.
Today, the CES-AES is run by Agricultural Operations. This is a support department of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UCR. Besides the original 420-acre (1.7 km2) CES-AES, the department also manages the 540-acre (2.2 km2) Coachella Valley Agricultural Research Station. This station is about 80 miles (130 km) southeast of the main campus, in a desert area. It was added in 1991 because some farming lands on the UCR campus were used for new buildings. At these two stations, over 50 different crops are grown for research. These include citrus, avocado, turfgrass, asparagus, date palms, vegetables, small grain, alfalfa, and ornamental plants.
Collections
The Citrus Variety Collection is still active and managed by the CES-AES. This collection covers 22.3 acres on the UCR campus and other smaller areas. It usually has two trees of about 1000 different types of Citrus plants. It also has many of the more than 30 related plant groups. This collection includes almost all the important and historic citrus types from around the world.
The University of California, Riverside Libraries now hold the books and papers from the old Citrus Experiment Station Library. They also have many historical documents from the station. You can see some of these old materials and rare books online in the Citrus Experiment Station Centennial Exhibition on the UCR Libraries website.
In 1924, Philip Hunter Timberlake joined the station to study insects. He worked there until 1950. His insect collection had about 500,000 specimens. About 150,000 of these were Hymenoptera (like bees and wasps). His bee collection was once the largest in North America. This collection became the start of the University of California's Entomology Research Museum, which now has about 4 million specimens.
UC Riverside Highlanders Ag/Ops Course
The Ag/Ops Course is the home course for the UC Riverside Highlanders men's and women's cross country teams.
See also
- Kinnow - a mandarin hybrid popular in Punjab region, created by Howard B. Frost at the Experiment Station
- Oroblanco and Melogold - sweet grapefruit hybrids, created by Robert Soost and James W. Cameron at the Experiment Station
