32 



REPORT OF THE FIRST SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING 



varieties. Walking through any one of the large Havana markets 

 during August and September one can find an endless variety of 

 avocados, some of them excellent, others fair, but very few which 

 are really inferior. They are all of the South American type, which 

 is, I believe, the only one grown in Cuba, if one excepts the few 

 trees of the ^lexican and Guatemalan types recently introduced 

 from California. These fruits are produced by seedling trees scat- 

 tered by the roadsides, in backyards and fence corners, and in all 

 sorts of odd places Avhich are not usually occupied by fruit trees 

 in the United States. I believe it can truthfully be said that the 

 avocado tree which receives systematic care in Cuba is very rare. 

 Most of the trees receive no cultivation whatever, but the soil is 

 excellent, and they seem to thrive. Propagation is by seed, but in 

 recent years the government and some of the most progressive 

 horticulturists of the island have taken up budding Avith fairly good 

 results. 



The fruits which go to market are picked usually 1)efore they 

 are fully ripe, and when they reach Havana they are still hard. 

 They are packed in sacks, boxes, or often hauled into town in a 

 cart without any packing whate^-er. I have stood in the Tacon 

 market at Havana and seen these fruits which were brought in 

 from the country sorted into piles of different sizes, and then 

 thrown from the ground into nearby wooden bins, a procedure 

 which would certainly have been disastrous to a fruit commencing 

 to ripen, and which can scarcely be recommended under any crc- 

 cumstances. For export, the Cubans pack the fruits in empty kero- 

 sene boxes, orange crates, or barrels, using no wrapping paper or 

 packing material of any kind. The method is rather crude, and 

 one hears a good many reports of Cuban fruit reaching New York 

 in poor condition. In some cases, however, the loss is due more 

 to other conditions than to careless packing, such as picking over- 

 ripe and allowing the fruit to heat in transit. 



There are a few good groves of Trapp avocados in the island, 

 and also in the Isle of Pines. These have been planted by Amer- 

 icans, and have only recently come into bearing. They have demon- 

 strated that the fruit will not hang on the tree so long in Cuba as 

 it does in Florida, and also that the trees will make much more 

 rapid growth. Failure to remain on the tree until late in the fall 

 is something of a drawl^ack, inasmuch as the highest prices are 



