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ANNUAL REPORT 1918 AND 1919 



size or shape or season, had been given the proud name of its owner, the 

 Florida grower would be deluged with a thousand different names. 



As to what variety will ultimately be the most popular on the market, 

 I could not hazard even a guess. The reason the Trapp variety brings a 

 higher price thcui the seedlings, is not because of its superior flavor, but be- 

 cause it gets into the market when most of the Florida and West Indian 

 seedlings are gone. 



Nor would I dare to name a preference for the fruit of any particu- 

 lar type nor from any particular locality, though I can say that the best 

 flavored fruit I have ever eaten was a Fuerte from Mr. Whedon's grove at 

 Yorba Linda. In fairness I must add that there are many of the California 

 named varieties that I have not yet been fortunate enough to sample. 



PROPER MATURING OF AVOCADOS 

 By Professor I. J. Condit. University of California 



The history of fruit marketing in California abounds with accounts of 

 the sales or attempted sales of early season fruits in order to benefit from 

 high prices. This is the time of the year when we read in the press of the 

 fancy prices paid in Chicago, Boston, or New York for the first box of 

 cherries from Vacaville, apricots from Red Banks, or figs from Coach ella. 

 The saying that "most people eat with their eyes" is true with regard to 

 a number of California fruits, but we must all admit that however attrac- 

 tive early apricots, peaches, or cherries may appear to the eye, their flavor 

 and quality are as a rule decidedly disappointing to the taste. California 

 Navel oranges may be picked when green, sweated to produce color, and 

 sold at fancy prices in the Eastern market, but the consumer's appetite for 

 more is, to say the least, certainly not stimulated. The marketing of ripe 

 olives for pickles reached such an unsatisfactory state recently that a ma- 

 turity standard for this fruit has been established. The selling of immature 

 avocados in California has been practiced for several years and it seems at 

 times unfair to censure the grower who handed over the fruit to the pur- 

 chaser at 50c, 75c, $1.00, or even $1.50 each rather than leave it on the 

 trees to suffer possible injury or total loss from wind, frost, or theft. In the 

 discussion of this subject, therefore, it seems best to treat it under the fol- 

 lowing headings: 



The need of a maturity standard for the avocado. 

 Maturity standards for other fruits. 



The possibility of finding such a standard for the avocado 

 and of enforcing it. 



Is there a need of a maturity standard for the avocado? According 

 to the opinions expressed by experienced growers it would seem that there 

 is. Some of these expressions are as follows: 



"My personal opinion is that anyone offering immature avocados, 

 while knowing them to be such, should be censured in the highest terms. It 

 seems to me that, in the inception of the avocado industry, when not one 

 person in one thousand has ever tasted the fruit, a special safeguard should 

 be thrown around the quality of those offered for sale.'* 



