CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



33 



obtained in late fall and winter. The Guatemalan avocado may 

 solve the problem, however, and supply fruits during the winter 

 and early spring. I saw at Guanajay, about an hour's ride from 

 Havana, several young Guatemalan trees imported from Califor- 

 nia which were bearing their first fruits, and seemed to be making 

 splendid growth. This type of avocado promises to be of immense 

 value in Cuba as well as in Florida, because of its habit of ripening 

 in winter and early spring. It is much earlier in Florida than it 

 is in California, as will be mentioned later on. 



The future of avocado culture in Cuba probably lies in the 

 cultivation of winter and spring-fruiting varieties. The profits 

 from shipments of summer-ripening fruits certainly cannot be 

 great, when one considers the loss in transit and the low prices 

 obtained during the summer season in New York knd other eastern 

 markets. When good avocados can be purchased wholesale at $12 

 to $25 per thousand, as they are in Havana during August and 

 September, they can be shipped north and a profit made, even with 

 considerable loss of fruit in transit, but the big possibilities of the 

 future seem to lie almost exclusively in the winter bearing type. 



In south Florida we have an entirely different state of affairs. 

 There are plenty of seedling avocados, and lots of cheap fruit 

 during the summer months, but the present avocado industry has 

 been built upon a more substantial and profitable basis. There are 

 approximately 200 acres of budded trees now in bearing, Avith about 

 an equal area recently planted. Of this acreage, more than 95 per 

 cent is planted to the Trapp variety. It can be truthfully said 

 that the late-fruiting habits of this avocado have made possible 

 the present development of the industry. The Trapp, however, is 

 not an especially choice avocado. I am convinced that we can find 

 a number of others in Cuba Avhich Avill be just as late, and consid- 

 erably better in quality. On this latter point opinions differ. A 

 good many of the Florida growers think the Trapp the acme of 

 perfection ; a few others, who are entirely unprejudiced in their 

 opinions, feel that the Trapp might to advantage have a smaller 

 seed and richer flavor. Probably it will be superseded some day 

 by a better fruit, but in the meantime Florida is going to grow 

 Trapps, and rightly so, for past experience seems to show very 

 plainly that in matters of this kind it is poor economy to search 

 indefinitely for the ideal fruit and produce nothing in the mean- 



