Food Value of the Avocado 



As a food product, the avocado is unquestionably an im- 

 portant factor to be reckoned with. Economists who have the 

 ability to grasp matters horticultural are figuring it into the 

 future food supply of the country at large as a competitor of 

 meat, and are estimating its possibilities for replacing animal 

 products with a wholesome and delicious vegetable food. As 

 eminent and practical a horticulturist as Mr. Parker Earle, 

 formerly president of the American Pomological society, is con- 

 vinced of an immense future for the avocado. In a recent let- 

 ter to the editor of the Pacific Garden, Mr. Earle says : 



"An acre of land can produce, let us say, one quarter of 

 a ton of beef, or other animal food, per year. It can produce 

 one ton, or possibly two tons, of food in wheat, or corn, or 

 rice. It can produce five, ten, or possibly twenty tons of an 

 incomplete food ration in the form of apples, or grapes, or ba- 

 nanas. And there may be from one to two tons or more of very 

 rich food in the form of nuts notably pecans from one acre 

 of land. But with avocados there would seem to be a possible 

 yield of food of very high nutritive value, in tonnage equal to 

 apples with their low nutritive value." Mr. Earle goes on to 

 state that if men can produce many tons of food of best value 

 from an acre of land in trees that can only yield a fraction of 

 a ton in the form of animal food, it is pretty certain that they 

 are going to plant trees. The crowding of men together in 

 dense population will compel this. "In primitive conditions men 

 turned to animals for food. It was a state of savagery. We are 

 outgrowing it. Very soon there will be no room for animals that 

 are grown to be eaten. It is compulsory. It is nature's way.. 

 We must get our food in greatest quantities from a minimum 

 area of land. And we must have food containing the same ele- 

 ments that animals have been giving us. Among these substitutes 

 does not the avocado offer itself as one of large possible im- 

 portance?" 



The one answer that can be made to Mr. Earle's inquiry is 

 it does. 



As this fruit becomes known in northern markets the de- 

 mand for it will become almost limitless, and the portion of the 

 country where it can be successfully grown is limited. We ad- 

 vise planting avocados in this southern section and planting 

 them in large acreages. It is the coming fruit. The Home- 

 seeker. 



