THE WHITE SAPOTA 



477 



the fruits in each instance ripening in a week or ten days after gathering; 

 and a very remarkable fact is that the quality or flavor of the last picking 

 seems just the same as the first. 



The alligator pear must be considered as one of the most prom- 

 ising fruits included in this chapter; it may prove the most profit- 

 able of the group. Efforts are in progress in California and else- 

 where for improved varieties by selection and propagation by 

 budding with the ordinary shield-bud and a waxed cloth binding, 

 is easily done. The literature of the alligator pear is increasing and 

 should be consulted.* Of progress in its growth thus far in south- 

 ern California Mr. Taft writes : 



It is hardly probable that here in California we can ever produce fruit 

 quite equal in size to the largest from the tropics, but there are smaller and 

 hardier varieties which are no whit inferior but rather better in flavor and 

 richness which have been found to do well. These are from local or Mexican 

 seeds whose ancestors for many generations have grown in a climate much 

 like our own. In southern California there are perhaps a hundred trees old 

 enough to bear. Of these about ten produce abundant and regular crops. 

 Fortunately they are so located as to indicate that there is a considerable area 

 adapted to Avocado. Of these first class trees one or two grow at Hollywood, 

 two or three in Los Angeles, one at Monrovia, one at Santa Ana, and I have 

 two or three at Orange. One of those at Hollywood is probably the most 

 prolific. 



It is from these trees that we should establish our groves. Probably the 

 safest plan is to plant in orchard seedling trees, direct from the can or pot in 

 which they are started, for many have found the Avocado rather cranky about 

 transplanting. When balled, though, it moves readily enough. Trees which 

 do not fruit satisfactorily can be budded over as soon as this fact is shown. 



As there is an uncommonly great variation in the time of blooming and 

 also in the period required for the fruit of different types of trees to come 

 to maturity, an orchard may be obtained by selection which will bear continu- 

 ously. This is of course very desirable to the consumer and immaterial to the 

 market grower, as there is plenty of demand at all times. 



The tree at Monrovia was grown by W. Chappelow and has 

 been named for him by W. A. Taylor of the U. S.- Department of 

 Agriculture who imported the seed from Mexico. 



THE WHITE SAPOTA 



There are two old trees in Santa Barbara, one believed to have 

 survived from the mission planting in the early part of the last 

 century, the other half as old, of the white sapota (Casimiroa edtitis). 

 Dr. Franceschi commends the tree for every garden. Mr. Harvey 

 of Los Angeles describes the sapota as growing with him from seed 

 from Vera Cruz as follows : 



This tree endures slight frosts unharmed. It is indigenous in northwest Mex- 

 ico and is remarkable among the Aurantiacea, producing green colored flowers, 

 and superficially bears little resemblance to an otherwise well-marked order of 

 plants. The fruits are the size of apples, and are esteemed in that portion of 



* The Avocado, by G. N. Collins. Bulletin 77, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. 

 Dept. of Agr., 1907. Consult also Yearbooks of the U. S. Dept. of Agr. for 1905 and 



