Subseries 90a consists of selected files from the Office of the Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station. Most of the files were created in the 1950s during the tenures of Willard Merwin Fifield and Joseph Reilly Beckenbach. However, earlier documents from previous directors also exist. These include discussion of potato experiments in 1905, speeches and papers delivered at annual Citrus Seminars and Livestock Roundups, and records of the State Plant Board for 1924-1945. (At that time, the Director of the Experiment Station also headed the Plant Board.) The files for the 1950s include extensive documentation on state and federal regulation of pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers, files on citrus spreading decline, cooperative research with the Servicio Interamericano de Cooperacion Agricola (STICA) in Costa Rica, records of the Advisory Committee to the Everglades Research Program, records related to a Mediterranean Fruit Fly infestation in 1956--including daily infestation reports--and records related to Florida's water resources.
