44 



ANNUAL REPORT 1919 AND 1920 



AVOCADO PERFORMANCE RECORDS 



A. D. SHAMEL. RIVERSIDE. CALIF. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



The reason for my presenting this discussion of the work of keeping individ- 

 ual avocado tree performance records is that Mr. L. B. Scott, in charge of this 

 investigation for the U. S. Department of Agriculture, has written me that 

 official duties prevent his attending this convention as planned, and requested that 

 I prepare a paper on this subject in his stead. The only personal experience with 

 avocado performance records which warrants my attempting this duty has been a 

 very limited connection with the variety committee of this Association. The ideas 

 which I will discuss in this paper have developed as a result of our experience dur- 

 ing the past ten years while keeping individual citrus tree performance records. 

 Enough evidence has been secured with avocado tree records to warrant the belief 

 that such records are as important in the selection of parent trees and bud wood for 

 the propagation of reliable varieties and strains of the avocado as has been proven 

 to be the case with the citrus. In fact it seems to me that such records are more 

 important for the avocado than for the citrus, for the reason that the commercial 

 propagation of avocado varieties is still in its infancy. Therefore, it seems reason- 

 able that exact information as to individual avocado tree behavior will enable the 

 propagators and growers of avocados to avoid many of the mistakes made in the 

 early propagation of citrus varieties. 



My point of view is that the avocado grov^ers and propagators have a won- 

 derful opportunity at this time through tree performance record work to select 

 superior varieties and strains for commercial propagation so that from the very 

 beginning of this industry only valuable varieties will be planted in the commercial 

 avocado orchards. I firmly believe that careful study along this line may shorten 

 the experimental work essential to the selection of suitable varieties for new en- 

 vironment conditions at least twenty-five years. Furthermore, I feel sure that 

 this work will enable commercial growers to avoid the serious mistakes usually inci- 

 dent to the introduction of new crops and in this way eliminate much of the loss 

 and disappointment connected with the planting of unsuitable varieties in commer- 

 cial orchards. I have long felt that the avocado propagators and growers in Cali- 

 fornia have a imique opportunity to start off the commercial development of this 

 industry along proven and reliable lines, and I believe that when they fully 

 understand the importance of basing their selection of varieties and of parent trees 

 within the varieties upon definite information and exact records that they will seri- 

 ously take up and carry on this v/ork. 



I will briefly describe a method of keeping individual tree records. While 

 this method will probably be greatly modified and improved with further experi- 

 ence it does meet the necessities of this work as fully as possible in the light of our 

 present knowledge of this subject. 



OBJECT OF PERFORMANCE RECORDS 



The object of this work is to determine and systematically record the per- 

 form.ance of individual avocado trees. These records include ( 1 ) a record of 

 the number, weight, and commercial quality of the fruits borne by each indi- 

 vidual tree; (2) the dates of each pick showing the season of production; (3) 

 definite data as to the chemical composition and the physical characteristics of the 



