80 



REPORT OF THE FIRST SEMI-ANNUAL MEETJNC 



to say that I have planned a little shipping experiment that has 

 been worked out very well. \\t took a number of varieties about 

 two weeks ago, and sent them to the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington with the request they send them back here immedi- 

 ately, collect. We haven't heard from them. The day after. Presi- 

 dent Hart sent another one. That box was sent to Chicago with in- 

 structions to return. Half of the box was packed intentionally 

 loose to see how they would take the shipment, and the other was 

 packed firmly, and those thin-skinned varieties passed very fairly 

 under that test, although most of them were considerably mulled 

 about. There are hardly more than two orthree in the 1)ox fit to go 

 on the market at the present time. However, I want to call atten- 

 tion to the fact they were expressed from here to Chicago and back, 

 and they were pretty ripe when packed, so it is a pretty fair test, 

 and you can see the results in the exhibits. 



Continuing the discussion of transportation. ]\Ir. Bosche said 

 these remarks referred to both thick and thin skin varieties. It 

 is a matter of protecting them, keeping them in the proper atmos- 

 phere and properly packed. Reverting to the shipment to Chicago. 

 Mr. Bosche said they had entirely too much packing : that with a 

 little excelsior the fruit could be put through in ver}^ proper con- 

 dition. The fruit should not be wrapped in paper. 



I was ver}^ much interested in the matters referred to by 

 Mr. Rivers. My man is now in Mexico in connection with the 

 avocado business, and I would say that I have packed them, 

 of necessity, in those baskets, because boxes were not available 

 there. I found that by packing them in five or six layers in a 

 little excelsior that they would come through in very fine shape, 

 but that was a necessity. I think a single or a two-layer crate 

 would probably be better^ but I have shipped to Xev.^ York from 

 Mexico, kept them there eight or ten days, and then shipped them 

 to California, Los Angeles, San FVancisco, and other cities with less 

 than two per cent loss. 



The chairman announced that ^Ir. F. J. Walker has been 

 appointed by the U. S. Government, as a member of the committee 

 to go into Southern Mexico and Central and South America to 

 investigate trade conditions and advance our trade relations. Mr. 



