24 ANNUAL REPORT 1918 AND 1919 



Resolved, that we thank the press of Southern California for its 

 aid in pubHshing the necessary information as to our meetings, making them 

 well known and attractive. 



Resolved, that we tender our thzoiks to the thoughtful donors of 

 the beautiful flowers contributed. 



Respectfully submitted. 



Committee on Resolutions 

 Chas. D. Adams 

 Geo. H. Johnson 

 B. K. Marvin 



Moved by McLaughlin, seconded by Dana, that report be received 

 and adopted. Carried. 



TTiere being no further business, the President declared the meeting 

 adjourned. 



H. J. Webber, Secretary. 



OPENING ADDRESS 

 By President Shedden 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Let us put ourselves into a good frame of mind by all singing one 

 verse of "My Country *Tis of TTiee.** It is with gladness I greet you 

 upon this third anniversary of the California Avocado Association. I speak 

 sincerely when I express these feelings, for, at each of our six semi-annual 

 meetings, I have experienced an increasing pleasure, both in anticipation 

 and realization. This is because of our better acquaintance not only with 

 each other, but with that hub and pivot of interest, the avocado, — that tree 

 of knowledge, whose students are becoming, each year, more serious and 

 discerning, in the study of it. More practical understanding of it has been 

 burned into us, this year, than ever before. 



The unsuspecting avocado grower surely was handed the "hot end 

 of the poker," but he bravely held on, and thereby found out just how 

 much he could stand. It has been twelve months of courageous struggling, 

 and all that we have done, in the year gone, has been deeply tinged with 

 the red hue of our first year in the world wide conflict. Savage war has 

 loosed hell on earth, and we live in an atmosphere of horror created by the 

 combined barbarity and perverted science of one perfidious nation that has 

 been convicted of trying to steal the world, — while it wasn't looking. 

 How hard it is to talk without touching the war! 



Within our own avocado sphere, certain untoward happenings of 

 the year have had a depressing effect upon some whose avocado hearts 

 seem not to grow upon "resistant stock," and, in consequence, these down 

 cast ones are found sitting under the "Juniper tree of sorrow," and weeping 

 because they have no avocados to eat, nor the luxurious price of corn and 

 beans, as a substitute. While the year did seem to hang heavy with dis- 

 appointments, yet, progress did not stop. It was, and is, going on. They 

 who do not see it may be looking for it in the wrong direction, — in the 

 wake of the flitting dollar. One day, a lady asked me to look at an 



