86 



FLORIDA STATE IKjltTlCULTURAL SOCIETY 



hours seems to be almost a regular or nor-^ 

 mal behavior. 



Under decided changes in temperature 

 the blooming of all varieties is thrown off 

 stride. The role which such irregulari- 

 ties play in fruit setting remains to be 

 determined. Changes in weather which 

 do not noticeably produce off-stride be- 

 havior of flowers will frequently produce 

 differences from day to day of one or 

 more hours in the time of opening. In 

 such cases the relative behavior of dif- 

 ferent varieties remains quite the same. 

 W^hen this behavior is charted for a num- 

 ber of varieties it is as if the entire chart 

 of one day is moved over to later or 

 earlier hours. 



As the season of blooming advances 

 and there are more hours of sunlight 

 with higher temperatures the periods of 

 flower opening advance to earlier hours. 

 Thus a day's record during the best 

 weather of February may be two or more 

 hours later than a day in March or April. 

 This change to earlier hours as the season 

 advances is also well shown when the 

 records for a single variety for different 

 days in the season are compiled in a single 

 chart. While there are marked variations 

 from day to day due to changes in weath- 

 er there was a general trend to earlier 

 hours as the season advanced. The record 

 for Trapp, however, shows scarcely any 

 tendency to such a shift to earlier hours. 



COMMENTS ON INTERPLANTING 



The aim in interplanting avocados is to 

 l)rovide for cross-pollinations which will 

 increase the yield of fruit beyond that 

 obtained or possible in solid block plant- 

 ings of single varieties. On the basis 



of flower behavior, already discussed in 

 this record, it seems certain that proper 

 interplanting will provide the opportunity 

 for cross-pollination and should increase 

 production and make it more uniformly 

 certain. It seems quite probable that 

 without cross-pollination many varieties 

 will be shy bearers or even non-fruitful. 



Apparently avocados have hitherto been 

 planted with little, if any, though of any 

 necessity for cross-pollination. The re- 

 sults fully condemn this practice. Plant- 

 ings of many varieties have often given 

 scanty yields of fruit, particularly when 

 there have been solid blocks of one sort, 

 and when the general conditions of cul- 

 ture, weather, etc., were evidently highly 

 favorable to the production of fruit. For 

 the greatest success in avocado culture, 

 the difficulties due to insufficient pollina- 

 tion should be reduced to a minimum. 

 Other matters of importance bearing on 

 fruit production, such as bud selection, 

 methods of culture, nurture of (artificial 

 fertilizers) etc., may then be determined 

 with greater certainty. 



The selection of varieties most desira- 

 ble for culture involves many matters 

 such as the habits of growth, adaptability 

 to local conditions of soil, climate, fungus 

 diseases and insect pests, and the quality 

 of fruit and its season of maturity. These 

 are matters which the grower must con- 

 sider in deciding what varieties are most 

 worthy of culture. When this selection 

 is made the question of interplanting to 

 he considerd is how the varieties selected 

 are to be arranged in the planting and if 

 other varieties are needed as proper pol- 

 lenizers. 



The one aim in interplanting avocados 



