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liEPORT OF THE FIRST SE.MI-ANXLJAL .MEETING 



You have heard the gentleman say that most of the consumers of 

 the fruit call it the alligator pear, and this will become, I am 

 sure, an unsuccessful result to change that unless all the forces are 

 united in favor of one name. Xow, if we undertake to adopt the 

 name ahuacate, which is undoubtedly the most correct name, we are 

 going to fail, because a large majority of the growers are used to 

 avocado. If you have watched the program, hardly anybody used 

 any other name. The word ahuacate is impossible to pronounce 

 by English-speaking people according to the way it is spelled. 

 You have to know something about Spanish when you try to pro- 

 nounce it. That is not true of the word avocado. It can be pro- 

 nounced the way it is spelled, b}^ English-speaking people, and is 

 easy to acquire. It is a word that has been identified with the fruit. 

 I don't see any reason why it is not a suitable name to use, and 

 surely if we succeed in having any other name than alligator pear, 

 we cannot succeed in ha^'ing a name difterent from the name now 

 used. Therefore, I make this motion, in order to avoid having 

 the name alligator pear. I am sure if Ave divide our forces we will 

 not succeed in getting the change, but if we all unite in getting 

 practically one name we have much better chances of succeeding. 



Mr. Hart: Mr. Adams, Avhile mostly correct, makes some 

 statements I cannot agree with, and one of them is that the word 

 "Avocado'' is used in Mexico. 



Mr. Adams: I have that statement from ]\Ir. R. O. Price, who 

 was a long time in charge of a large estate on the Isthmus of 

 Tehuantepec. 



Air. Hart: I lived in Tehauntepec for some years, and I 

 never ran across any ]\Iexican who used any other word than 

 ahuacate. In some places it is spelled aguacate, and the Indians in 

 places, would spell it a-h-u-a-c-a-t-1. 



I think you have missed the strongest argument in favor of 

 the word avocado. And that is, that it has the backing of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture made a 

 mistake in calling the fruit the avocado through the ignorance 

 of some subordinate. They have put that name through the 

 pomological institute, and are not willing to correct their mis- 

 take now. The question is whether it would be better policy 

 to correct the mistake and use the word ahuacate, or to con- 

 tinue and use the word avocado. Now, the Department of 



