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CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



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rival I met Gabriel Fuentes, a man who had been raised in the United States. 

 He proved to be intelligent and courteous, and best of all was thoroughly fa- 

 miliar with avocados, owing to the fact that he made a business of shipping them 

 to Mexico City and occasionally to the United States. He took me through the 

 groves and showed me the trees which produced the choicest fruits. At that time 

 of the year, August, the latter were only half-grown and I could not sample 

 them ; but I arranged with Mr. Fuentes to ship me specimens as soon as they were 

 matured, numbering each one and sending a description of the tree from which it 

 came. I believe it was in January, 1911, that the first basket of Atlixcan avo- 

 cados reached me in California. I had these fruits photographed, and then we 

 selected five of them for propagation. These bore the numbers two, six, seven, 

 thirteen and fifteen. It was at this time that I wrote a short article for the Cali- 

 fornia Cultivator descriptive of the fruit, methods of preparing and serving it, 

 and ended with some optimistic predictions regarding its future in California. In 

 the meantime, owing to damaging frosts at Monrovia, I become skeptical about 

 the desirability of that region for an avocado nursery and dissolved partnership 

 with Mr. Clower. 



"I formed a new partnership with A. R. Rideout, of Whittier, and as soon 

 as the buds at Atlixco were in proper condition Mr. Fuentes began shipping to us. 



"What happened to the avocado pioneers, in the winter of 1912-13, is now 

 history: Jack Frost played few favorites, and when the smoke of battle had 

 cleared away and we had taken stock of our salvage, all that we had left to 

 represent our effort and expense was four plants of Number Two and five or 

 six of Number Fifteen. From' these we have since propagated others, until we 

 now have several hundred five and six-year-old trees chiefly of the Number Fif- 

 teen variety. These trees are divided between myself, A. R. Rideout of Whittier, 

 and G. W. Beck of La Habra. The Number Two trees at Mr. Rideout's place 

 and the Number Fifteen at Mr. Beck's fruited lightly this past season. The fruits 

 of both numbers were of exceptionally fine quality and desirable size (16 to 24 

 ounces), and we hope that further experience will show that they merit extensive 

 cultivation in California." 



Previous to Mr. Stephens' visit to Atlixco, Juan Murrieta of Los Angeles 

 had been in touch with the region, and had secured seeds from which he raised 

 numerous trees. Mr. Murrieta first learned of Atlixco in 1 892. He entered into 

 correspondence with Mr. Fuentes, and in January 1 893, the latter forwarded a 

 shipment of fruits. Other shipments were received at later dates. The seeds 

 from some of these fruits were planted by Mr. Murrieta himself, while others he 

 gave to friends in or near Los Angeles. From them came the parent trees of 

 several well-known varieties which are now propagated in California. 



I am told, also, that commercial shipments of avocados from Atlixco reached 

 Los Angeles from 1 890 until the time when communication was interrupted by 

 the revolution, — about 1911. From some of these fruits, sold in the markets of 

 Los Angeles, have come seedling trees which have in recent years attracted much 

 attention. 



Carl B. Schmidt, Explorer for the West India Gardens of Altadena, spent 

 several months in southern Mexico during the latter part of 1911. He sent from 

 Atlixco budwood of nearly thirty varieties, many of which were successfully propa- 

 gated in California. 



The year following Schmidt's work, Roberto Johnson, a horticulturist living 

 in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, visited Atlixco, also in the interests of the West 

 India Gardens, and forwarded more budwood of several of Schmidt's selections. 



