54 



ANNUAL REPORT 1918 AND 1919 



out by the Association and also some for nurserymen. The interest was so 

 great that I beheve I am safe in saying that we had more people at the 

 Avocado booth than all the rest in the building combined. 



To answer the question, "What does it taste like?" that w2LS asked 

 a few hundred times, Mrs. Keller felt compelled to commence serving 

 samples. This was so big a job that we found it hard to get suitable fruit 

 for serving. We had a box of Ganters given us that had been in cold 

 storage, and also some seedlings and some prematurely ripe Fuertes, but 

 most of those served were Pueblas from my own grove. Over ten thou- 

 sand samples were served, they being small as a matter of course. 



We were relieved from time to time by various members of the 

 Association and I now recall Messrs. Shedden, Knight, Sherlock, Elliott, 

 H2insen, Wagner, Rideout, Hardin, Mann and Adams. Mrs. Mann, 

 Mrs. Hardin and Mrs. Boardman rendered valuable assistance. 



We tried to keep a fairly close tab on the troubles people had and 

 the complaints made about avocados. Some few complained about over- 

 ripe fruit having been sold to them. Many complained of immature and 

 hard fruit, while mzmy said the fruit they bought was all seed. Several 

 said they tried to eat the seed as that was all there was in it. There was 

 a general complaint about the fruit-men not being able to give any reliable 

 information about quality, varieties or condition. They said the fruit men 

 always said the fruit was ready to eat as sold. A few said no difference 

 what variety was asked for the fruit man had it if he had only one fruit 

 in stock. Dozens said they had tried one but did not like it as it was 

 hard and tasted like hard soap. When a sample was served them it 

 usually brought forth a lot of exclamations and questions. It was so 

 different from the one they had tried. A number of real enthusiasts said 

 they had given up trying to get good fruit in the market. 



This universal complaint of the beginners convinced me that if we 

 are to succeed in introducing avocados to the public we must have some 

 one to handle fruit who k^ows avocados. He must be a man able to give 

 customers reliable information as to variety, quality, time to be eaten, etc. 

 He must be in a position to guarantee fruit to be just what it is sold 

 for. Whether it be first, second, third or fourth class fruit he should 

 make it stand up to grade. 



Thousands came who had never tasted an avocado, hundreds who 

 had never seen one and thousands asked the question, "What is an 

 avocado?" 



HILLSIDE PLANTING OF AVOCADOS 

 By J. M. Elliott, of Los Angeles 



A request from President Sallmon that I tell the Association my 

 experiences of two and a half years as an avocado planter on hillside lands, 

 is the cause of this attempt. Please remember that I am making sugges- 

 tions, not giving advice, for the coming years may prove that our experi- 

 ments should have been conducted on very different lines. 



Many prospective growers on hillside will confine their activities to 

 property already owned, but to others who expect to acquire sites I would 



