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FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



sides and top, to which cheese cloth 

 (Curity Absorbent, "lA") was overlap- 

 ped and nailed under lath. The four 

 tents were completed before there was 

 any bloom, except that on the Trapp and 

 Panchoy a very few flowers had opened 

 and these were removed, The tents were 

 all completed and the bees inclosed on 

 or before February 28th. 



The bees were furnished by Mr. E. P. 

 Goldberg, who made frequent trips and 

 observations regarding their welfare, 

 feeding them with honey as seemed nec- 

 essary. By the first of March the trees 

 of Panchoy and Trapp were in fair 

 bloom. On March 25 Panchoy and 

 Trapp were in heavy bloom^ Taft in good 

 bloom and Linda in light bloom. Through- 

 out the flowering of all the trees the bees 

 in every tent worked the flowers hard. 

 Good weather with sunny days prevailed 

 and the bees continually worked flowers 

 of both sets. On March 29th Dean Wil- 

 mon Newell of the Florida State Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station made ob- 

 servations on the conditions and remark- 

 ed on the excellent and abundant visita- 

 tions which the flowers were receiving 

 from the bees. 



The selection of the four varieties was 

 made with special intent. Taft is, as the 

 record of flower behavior shows, a variety 

 typical of Class A in flower behavior with 

 a long interval (24 hours) between the 

 closing of the firsts and their oi)ening for 

 the second time. Besides it is a well 

 known commercial variety that has a rep- 

 utation of being a shy bearer. 



The other three varieties, Linda, Pan- 

 choy and Trapp are all members of 

 Class B with firsts normally oiK-ning in 



the afternoon. Linda and Panchoy are 

 among the varieties of the B Class whose 

 firsts complete their period regularly and 

 comparatively early. Trapp is much 

 later, frequently skips the first opening 

 and is a widely cultivated variety and has 

 the reputation of being a consistant and 

 heavy bearer. It would seem that if any 

 varieties can set fruit to selfing, it will 

 be those that open firsts late as does the 

 Trapp. 



Mr. Barney : I would like to ask these 

 gentlemen one question. In mixing up 

 this planting, would it be in accordance 

 with their investigation if each tree plant- 

 ed had one or two grafts of average vari- 

 eties on the same tree? 



Mr. Savage: The matter of grafts 

 upon the same tree is one which will de- 

 pend entirely upon the adequate grow^th 

 of the tree, the strength which the two 

 varieties will maintain in making a fine 

 tree. That is something which can be 

 experimented with. 



W. J. Krome : I think I might par- 

 tially answer Mr. Barney's inquiry about 

 the propagation of two or more varieties 

 on a single stock. I have tried that a 

 good many times, generally just two and 

 sometimes as he has done — three and 

 four. I have never found that it was a 

 wise thing to do. The stronger variety 

 will almost every time dwarf the weaker 

 variety, and you will wind up with only 

 one variety on that stock ; sometimes 

 the weaker will persist for quite a length 

 of time, but eventually you will come 

 back and have only one avocado of good 

 bearing value on that stock. The sec- 

 ond variety during the time it |>ersists 

 might be worth while, simply as a pollina- 



