62 



ANNUAL REPORT 1919 AND 1920 



In conclusion, a word about the work which we are doing and plan to do 

 in the future will not be amiss. This year the maturity work has been confined 

 to the eight varieties recommended by the Association as the standard fruits for 

 commercial growing, namely, Blakeman, Dickinson, Fuerte, Lyon, Puebia, Sharp- 

 less, Spinks and Taft. Of these the Puebia and Fuerte are finished. Owing to 

 unforeseen difficulties, the work on the Puebia was not started until rather late 

 for this variety, and the wind storm of last November shook a great many fruits 

 from the tree, so that the results in this case will be somewhat meagre this year. 

 The work on the Fuerte is about over, and a full line of monthly samples, be- 

 ginning with September, have been finished. Here we were able to secure a tree 

 with ample fruit for analysis, and have been fortunate in having but few drops 

 until late in the season. 



The Blakeman tree has not as much fruit as we would like to have, but will 

 be sufficient to furnish valuable data on which to base future work. The Lyon 

 tree was young but was well supplied with fruit and analyses are still being made. 

 The Dickinson tree is also in satisfactory shape and has sufficient fruit to carry 

 the analyses well past the ripening stage. The fruit on the- Taft tree we over- 

 estimated and drew upon too heavily for the first samples. We have had enough, 

 however, to bring the analyses to date. Work on the Spinks was not begun 

 until after the first of the year, so that we will have ample fruit to satisfy our 

 needs. 



This year the plan has been to select typical trees, and begin the analyses 

 several months before there was any question as to the maturity of the variety. 

 We have taken a sample every month, using 6 fruits to a sample where the 

 supply permitted. TTiese samples were divided into two equal parts, the first 

 of which was analyzed immediately, the second wrapped in paper and stored at 

 laboratory temperature until it softened, before analysis was made. The two 

 sets of data thus obtained are calculated to the moisture free basis for comparison, 

 and the changes taking place on storage determined. 



This year rather full analyses are being made; if after studying the data 

 obtained, it appears that some of the constituents do not materially change with 

 the maturity of the fruit, we can omit their estimation next year. Mr. Church, 

 who is doing the analytical work this year, is determining the percentage of rind 

 or skin, of seeds and of pulp, the specific gravity of the fruit, the percentages of 

 moisture, mineral matter, oil, and crude fiber in the flesh. Notes are also being 

 taken of the physical characteristics, such as color of the skin and stem (where 

 it is known), "feel" of the fruit, whether it appears leathery or soft, color of flesh, 

 whether flesh separated readily from skin, color, odor and condition of seed. 

 Already I can assure you that you will find these data most interesting, and I 

 believe profitable. One year's work on one tree of each variety will not be 

 sufficient to establish a standard, of course, but it will give us a pretty good idea 

 of the work needed in the future. We would hke to extend the collaborative 

 work next year, taking up the composition of the fruit from bud selection trees, 

 and extending the analyses to new varieties which show sufficient promise to warrant 

 the work. A few such analyses have been made this year. There is also much 

 interesting work on the composition of the avocado, and its seed, both of which 

 present a new field of work to the research chemist. 



