CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



78 



The Mexican Race: Its Possibilities 



In drawing this paper to a close I wish to present for your considera- 

 tion a few remarks on the Mexican race and its commercial possibilities in 

 California. I do this with a certain hesitation and a profound feeling of 

 distrust, for I have been present at some of the meetings of this association 

 when the Mexican race was discussed. I have seen Mr. Thacher of Nord- 

 hoff, back to the wall, defend this race when every one else maligned it, 

 and in all justice I must admit that I myself have previously been on the 

 side of those that maligned. 



Since coming to Mexico I am changing my views regarding this race, 

 and while it is somewhat premature to express any decided opinions, I wish 

 to point out what I consider to be some of the reasons why this race must 

 continue to have a place in California orchards, and a rather prominent one 

 at that. Not that I believe it will ever outrank the Guatemalan in import- 

 ance, or even approach it. I am still convinced that the Guatemalan is the 

 avocado par excellence, the facile princeps of its kind. But we should not 

 let our prejudice in favor of the Guatemalan make us blind to the virtues 

 of the Mexican. 



We must remember that the ripening season of the Mexican race 

 makes it of value. Although Sharpless and other Guatemalan varieties 

 may come into market at the same season, we still look upon the Mexican 

 race as our principal source of supply during the months from October to 

 January. Even granting that the Guatemalan race will eventually cover 

 this period completely, and there will be no need for the Mexican on this 

 account, I still believe there are reasons for growing it. 



I will qualify this last statement; there are reasons for growing it, 

 when n>e have obtained varieties which more closely approach the ideal, 

 I do not believe any of those grown in California today will be listed among 

 the commercial varieties twenty-five years hence; but I do believe that it 

 is going to be possible to find others which will have fewer defects than 

 those which we cultivate at present, and which we will be able to cultivate 

 profitably on a commercial scale. 



I base this belief mainly upon a fruit I have seen here in Mexico. I 

 purchased it in the market of Orizaba, but it was said to have been grown 

 at Atlixco,— that Mecca of avocado growers which I have not yet been 

 able to reach. It was round, purplish black, glossy, of attractive appear- 

 ance, about six ounces in weight with clean, yellow flesh of the richest 

 flavor imaginable and a comparatively small seed tight in the cavity. Such 

 a fruit as this, — it would probably go up to ten or twelve ounces under 

 good cultivation, — would be worth growing. 



The outstanding defects of the Mexican race, as I see them, are the 

 small size of the fruit and the large size of the seed. It has in its favor 

 hardiness, productiveness, ripening season, and a distinctive flavor which is 

 preferred by some people to that of any other race. I am not sure that there 

 is not an opportunity for it to be used to advantage in the tropics in supply- 

 ing early markets. I found it in the markets of Veracruz a month before 

 the West Indian race put in an appearance, and it would do the same in 

 Florida. 



But we must have better varieties. It is indispensable, as the Mexi- 

 cans say. And they are going to be hard to find. I am already convinced 

 of that. My search in the Canyada of Queretaro failed to bring to light 



