56 CROPS THAT PAY. 



owners handsome incomes. The systematic and intelhgent attention 

 of the American growers has resulted in producing in Florida a 

 better avocado than can be had in Cuba, Porto Rico, or elsewhere, 

 whence our markets have been in part supplied; and it is an inter- 

 esting fact that Florida avocados are regularly shipped to Key 

 West and Havana, where they sell for much higher prices than the 

 native product. In many large cities in the United States the 

 avocado is unknown, nor will such places have a chance to test the 

 new fruit so long as the supply is unequal to the demand in the few 

 centers which are now able to handle all the avocados they can get. 

 There are some quaint descriptions of the avocado, the first of 

 which in all probability was sent in Oviedo's report to Charles V, of 

 Spain, in 1526: 



"On the mainland are certain trees that are called pear trees 

 (perales). They are not pear trees like those of Spain, but are held in 

 no less esteem ; rather does the fruit have many advantages over the 

 pears of that country. These are certain large trees, with long narrow 

 leaves similar to tne laurel, but larger and more green. This tree pro- 

 duces certain pears, many of which weigh more than a pound, and some 

 less ; but usually a pound, a little more or less-, and the color and shape 

 is that of true pears, and the skin is somewhat thicker, but softer, and 

 in the middle it holds a seed like a peeled chestnut ; but it is very bitter, 

 as was said farther back of the mammee, except that here it is of one 

 piece and in the mammee of three, but it is similarly bitter and of the 

 same form ; and over this seed is a delicate membrane, and between it 

 and the primary skin is that which is eaten, which is something of a 

 liquid or paste that is very similar to butter and a very good food and 

 of good flavor, and such that those that can have them guard and 

 appreciate them ; and they are wild trees in the manner that all those that 

 have been spoken of, for the chief gardener is God, and the Indians 

 apply no work whatever to these trees. With cheese these pears taste 

 very well, and they are gathered early, before they are ripe, and stored ; 

 and after they are collected they mature and become in perfect condi- 

 tion to be eaten ; but after they are ready to be eaten they spoil if they 

 are left and allowed to pass that time." 



Another account by Hughes in "History of the Indies,'' describes 

 the type than known in Jamaica : 



"This is a reasonable high and well-spread Tree, whose leaves are 

 smooth, and of a pale green colour ; the Fruit is of the fashion of a Fig, 

 but very smooth on the outside, and as big in bulk as a Slipper-Pear ; of 

 a brown colour, having a stone in the middle as big as an Apricock, but 

 round, hard and smooth ; the outer paring or rinde is, as it were, a 

 kinde of a shell, almost like an Acorn-shell, but not altogether so tough ; 

 yet the middle substance (I mean between the stone and the paring, or 

 outer crusty rinde) is very soft and tender, almost as soft as the pulp 

 of a Pippin not over-roasted. 



"It groweth in divers places in Jamaica; and the truth is, I never 

 saw it elsewhere ; but it is possible it may be in other Islands adjacent, 

 which are not much different in Latitude. 



"I never heard it called by any other name then the Spanish Pear, 

 or by some the Shell-Pear; and I suppose it is so called only by the 

 English (knowing no other name for it) because It was there planted 

 by Spaniards before our Countrymen had any being there ; or else 

 because it hath a kinde of shell or crusty out-side. 



"I think it to be one of the most rare and most pleasant Fruits in 

 that Island : it nourisheth and strengtheneth the body, corroborating the 

 vital spirits ; the pulp being taken out and macerated in some convenient 

 thing, and eaten witn a little Vinegar and Pepper, or several other ways, 

 is very delicious meat." 



Sir Daniel Morris, British Commissioner of Agriculture for the 

 West Indies, writes in his book, "The Colony of British Honduras ; 

 its Resources and Prospects" : 



