22 



ANNUAL REPORT 1920 AND 1921 



I think we may safely say at the present time that the avocado industry 

 has reached the stage when the pioneering is largely over. In other words, the 

 commercial stage has been reached. It is now possible for any person who will 

 purchase a tract of good soil in a district proven for avocados, and who will 

 purchase well grown trees of recommended varieties and plant them and care 

 for them in the most approved manner, to be reasonably certain that he will receive 

 crops of delicious fruits for which there is a substantial market demand. If 

 that does not mean that the commercial era has dawned, I do not know what 

 would mark the same. 



It is not my wish to give the inference that there are not problems still to 

 be solved by avocado growers. The more we investigate cultural problems the 

 more we find that we have yet to learn. I suppose there is no branch of horti- 

 culture that has advanced farther in orchard technique than the citrus industry 

 but citrus growers all recognize that as yet only a few of the important problems 

 have been solved. There will always be problems with the avocado industry, 

 but I feel thoroughly convinced that we have solved a sufficient number for the 

 industry to be now considered as commercial. 



Rapid Progress of the Industry and Its Relation to the Association 



I think it is quite fair to say that in the past decade the avocado industry 

 in this state has progressed perhaps as far as any other industry of a similar 

 nature in twenty-five years. And I have been interested in thinking about the 

 reasons for this. A number of reasons occur to me but I believe the outstanding, 

 big reason for the phenomenal growth in interest and development of this industry 

 is the California Avocado Association; and I congratulate the avocado that it 

 has an association of this sort fostering its culture. I congratulate the association 

 on the strides that the industry has made in this comparatively short time. For 

 it is due to the Association very largely that we have so much information relative 

 to the soil, climatic and cultural requirements of the avocado, and that we have 

 the present comparatively large area planted. Of particular importance in 

 the early history of this industry was the appointment of a Committee on Varie- 

 ties, which sifted out the undesirable and unsatisfactory sorts and gradually 

 reduced them down to the present approved list of five. It is really a remarkable 

 thing to have occurred so early in an industry. Generally such a result comes 

 only after years of commercial competition. 



Having an Association of this kind behind the industry has meant saving 

 literally thousands of dollars for those who have desired to engage in avocado 

 culture. The Association has been responsible for enlisting the interest of the 

 Department of Agriculture — that great institution which is spending so many 

 millions of dollars in investigating problems for fruit growers and farmers. It 

 has been through the Association that such men as Popenoe, Scott, Webber, Coit, 

 Condit, Chace, Jaffa and others have interested themselves in the avocado. I 

 am sure we will all agree that it is with the greatest benefit that they have done so. 



The Association has been largely responsible for the interest of the State 

 University in this fruit. Until recently there has been a Division of Citriculture 

 of the State College of Agriculture which included the teaching and investigation 

 of avocados. And in that connection I would bespeak your continued interest 

 and support of this division. At the present time there exists no Division of 

 Citriculture, — there is no one assigned to work on avocados. There are reasons 

 for this condition. Many of you know that the State University has been 

 passing through a very stringent financial crisis, the result being the elimination 



