THE AVOCADO 



{Persca gratissima.) 



One of the latest pomological debutantes brought out by the 

 enterprising planters of Southern Florida, is sure to have a career 

 of lasting success. This is the avocado, or alligator pear — the 

 "aguacate" of Mexico and Central America. Any leading fruit 

 dealer in the very few large cities where avocados have as yet been 

 seen, will tell an inquirer that the demand for them is steadily 

 increasing, and that prices range from 25 cents to one dollar for a 

 single fruit, according to size, season and supply. The better hotels 

 and restaurants have "alligator pears" on their menus in season, but 

 at a cost practically prohibitive to moderate purses. First taken 

 up as a novelty among the wealthy and fashionable, as was the 

 grape fruit, the real merit of the avocado will gain for it the appre- 

 ciation of the general public, just as soon as an adequate and regular 

 supply will permit its sale at popular prices. When this time comes, 

 avocados will be plentiful in every market and on every fruit stand 

 throughout the land, and one of the most wholesome and nutritious 

 of fruits will have secured deserved recognition; while those for- 

 tunate planters whose orchards supply the demand, will be enjoying 

 the just reward of their far-sighted enterprise. 



Though technically a fruit, the avocado is no more a fruit than 

 is the tomato or the cucumber. Generally speaking a "fruit" has 

 something sweet or acid in it, or a combination of both, witn a 

 characteristic "flavor;" but the avocado is neither sweet nor acid. 

 The edible part of the fruit, the pulp or meat, in the good varieties 

 is a smooth, bland, buttery substance of the consistency of cream 

 cheese, or well-frozen ice cream, and having an agreeable nutty 

 flavor. Words rarely convey a correct notion of the real 

 taste of a fruit. The avocado is not a dessert fruit. Its place 

 among fruits is unique, for it is served almost exclusively as a 

 salad. In the tropics, where the use of the avocado is general, it is 

 often served, unprepared, to be eaten with salt, before or after 

 soup, or cut into small pieces and crushed in the soup, to which 

 it adds a delicate and agreeable flavor. The northern visitor at a 

 hotel in Havana, Mexico City, Managua or San Jose during the 

 season of avocados is sure to find a single fruit lying at the side of 

 his plate at dinner. The unfamiliar object is usually pear-shaped, 

 about the size of one's fist and weighs a pound or more; it may be 

 green, yellow, brown or dark purple, like a ripe egg plant, or a 

 combination of two or more of these colors, tinged with red. If 

 the new arrival follow the example of the initiated, he halves his 

 avocado lengthwise, removes its large seed, adds a little salt to the 

 creamy or greenish yellow meat, which he then dips with a spoon 

 from its leathery shell and eats as he would a Rocky Ford cante- 

 loupe at home — that is if he eats his avocado at all; for, as is the 



