22 



1916 ANNUAL REPORT 



distribute them that the prices may always be maintained, proportionate 

 to the supply. 



DISCUSSION 



Mr. Taft (in answer to question) : I am raising only thick-skinned 

 varieties. Whereas last year I received as low as $3.00 to $6.00 a dozen, 

 there have been very few this year that I have sold for less than $9.00 

 a dozen. 



Chairman: While on this business, would it not be well for the As- 

 sociation to give some information that the committee can work on in 

 regard to selling prices? Last month an article appeared, showing that 

 $1.25 a crate was paid for avocados, while a crate of the same size in 

 December brought $36.00. All the leading varieties at the present time 

 are spring and summer-bearing, and there is no question in my mind 

 but that just as quick as we get a good winter-bearing, thick-skinned 

 variety all the now leading varieties will drop back to fourth or fifth 

 place. Of course, for home production they are all right, but for com- 

 mercial business there should be a winter-bearing variety. The best 

 variety is .a winter variety. The summer-bearing will net very little 

 revenue in my judgment. 



I think that we, as an Association, ought to develop the market for 

 the entire year, not for any particular month. If we develop a market 

 for winter varieties, we are developing at the same time a market for 

 summer varieties. The avocado can be produced here for ten months 

 out of the year and probably soon will be produced during the entire year. 



While there is an advantage in producing fruit at a time when most 

 people are not producing them, it is a good deal a matter of judgment 

 and I do not believe that Florida is really a criterion of our condition. 

 In summer, they go into competition with a lot of Cuban varieties. There 

 is not an organized market to accept the fruit when it is sent in. The 

 dealers do not know when they are going to get shipments, and fruits 

 frequently arrive in bad condition. If dealers were getting shipments 

 so that they could provide their market in advance and know the 

 price, they would be a great deal better off than they now are. At the 

 present time the West and the adjoining states will provide a market for 

 everything we can grow, and this will be the case for the next ten years. 

 At the end of that time v/e may have to go into the Eastern markets. 

 There is an opportunity of getting a dollar apiece for fruits there, where 

 we may get fifty cents apiece for them here, or in Denver or Salt Lake. 

 I think we can take Los Angeles as a fair sample of market conditions. 



There were ten avocados eaten in Los Angeles last year to one eaten 

 before. I think the price last year was higher than before. The fact 

 that there was a lot of thin-skinned varieties on the market had no par- 

 ticular effect. Their production and sale will, I think, stimulate a taste 

 for the better varieties, and one of the great things for this Association 

 to take up is that of standardization. During this year we shall un- 

 doubtedly get on a firm basis. At the present time there is no worry 

 about a market. A good avocado will bring such a price that if a man 

 had an acre of them, it would make a small fortune for him every 

 year. I think we can handle every city in the West as we are handling 



