990 



late fruits occasionally hanging on the trees until the 

 end of January or February. Trapp, the latest commercial 

 variety, matures its fruit in late fall, and frequently 

 carries some of the crop until the first of January, but 

 after this time the quantity of avocados marketed from 

 south Florida has been negligible. With the Guatemalan 

 type it will be possible to supply the markets abundantly 

 from December to April, the season of the year when fresh 

 fruits are scarce and when, consequently, there should be 

 an excellent demand for avocados. In the past it has always 

 been the latest avocado which brought the highest prices. 

 The Guatemalan type has an additional advantage in its 

 thick, hard skin, which makes the fruit an excellent ship- 

 per. In quality some of the varieties of this type are 

 splendid excelling, in all probability, most of the summer- 

 fruiting varieties which are grown in Florida. The first 

 trees of this type which came into bearing at Miami were 

 grown from seeds sent in by G. N. Collins from Guatemala 

 in 1901. None of these seems likely to become of import- 

 ance as a commercial variety, but they have served to point 

 out the value and possibilities of this type for Florida. 

 Another seedling (S.P.I. No. 26710) of the same type, grown 

 at the Miami Garden from a seed sent from Los Angeles, 

 Calif., in 1908, has proved to be a first-class fruit, and 

 has been considered worthy of propagation as a named var- 

 iety. This fruit, which is now called Taylor, has been in 

 bearing at Miami for 3 years. Its origin and history are 

 as follows: In 1908 J. H. Walker of Hollywood, Calif., sent 

 fruits of two seedlings growing onhis place to W.A.Taylor, 

 pomologist of the Department at Washington. These varieties , 

 though unamed at that time, have since been called "Chal- 

 lenge" and "Royal". Mr. Taylor transmitted one of the seeds 

 to the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, and 

 it was sent to Miami to be grown. It is not known whether 

 this seed was from the Challenge or Royal. The variety is 

 now being propagated and disseminated at the Miami Garden. 

 Another promising avocado which has recently been propagat- 

 ed rather extensively at the Miami Garden is Butler, S.P.I. 

 No. 86690. This is a summer- ripening fruit of the West 

 Indian type, and hence scarcely so interesting at the pre- 

 sent time as a variety of the winter-bearing Guatemalan 

 type. However, a medium sized, prolific summer variety of 

 good quality has not yet become established commercially 

 in south Florida, and it would seem that in Butler we have 

 a fruit of considerable merit. Butler originated PS a 

 seedling at the Miami Garden, the seed having been received 

 from C. W. Butler, of St. Petersburg, Fla. , in 1904. The 

 tree came into bearing in 1909, and has proved to be un- 



