12 



ANNUAL REPORT 1920 AND 1921 



W. p. Sherlock, Puente — Dickinson, Fuerte and Puebla trees. 

 W. D. Stephens, Montebello — ^Avocado seedlings and Feijoas. 

 Ward Nursery, Sierra Madre — New thick skin, one pound fruit. 

 J. T. Whedon, Yorba Linda — 1 Fuerte, 16 oz., 8 French, Queen, Linda, 

 Murrieta Green, and a new thin skin seedling, from Mexico. 



CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION LUNCHEON 

 Pasadena, California 

 October 9, 1920 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. SALLMON 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 



It is a real pleasure to greet such a large audience of old, familiar faces 

 and to see so many new faces. We are particularly glad to welcome those 

 who have not met with us before, and I am very happy that so many of them 

 have enrolled in the membership of this association. 



We have had a phenomenal growth. We have not conducted any "cam- 

 paign" or "drive" but there has been a gradual increase in the number of people 

 genuinely interested in this new industry. Three years ago we had 1 6 1 members ; 

 the following year 2 1 6, and last year we set our mark at 300. At our annual 

 meeting in May we had gone over 300. For this present year our mark is 400 

 and judging from the voluntary interest shown this morning we ought to reach 

 our 400 mark by the time of our next annual meeting. Introducing a compar- 

 atively new fruit in this country, I think that is a very creditable record. I want 

 to say to any new friends here that everybody is welcome to join the California 

 Avocado Association. More than that, we heartily urge you to join. Whether 

 you are the owner of a single tree or the prospective owner of an orchard, co- 

 operation with this association v/ill mean much to you. All that we have learned 

 about this industry is recorded in our annual reports which are the repositories of 

 information on the subject of the avocado. The privileges of these two meetings 

 that we hold, — our annual meeting in the spring and this semi-annual meeting in 

 the fall — are alone well worth the price of membership. In addition there are 

 the circulars and leaflets that are issued from time to time and all the social 

 advantages that go with these increasingly interesting gatherings. We invite those 

 of you who have not yet joined to do so at the close of this meeting. A member- 

 ship paid now will run through the next calendar year. Also copies of all the 

 annual reports which we possess will be given to members who join at this time. 



In this connection I want to call your attention to the very generous offer 

 of Mr. A. R. Rideout of Whittier that he will present five avocado trees to the 

 person securing the largest number of new members at this gathering. We did 

 not have that notice sufficiently early to do any organization at all in the matter, 

 but there is still time to work because the individual who reports the largest number 

 of new members by the time this meeting closes this afternoon will receive these 

 five fine trees. They are well worth working for. It is a very generous offer 

 which we heartily appreciate on the part of Mr. Rideout. 



Now I want to make a general explanation with regard to our situation 

 today. It is a bit unfortunate, but then we always know how to adapt ourselves 

 to the circumstcinces in which we find ourselves unexpectedly. We did not 



