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1916 ANNUAL REPORT 



to be active so far as possible with all phases of the industry. In the 

 present stage of the development of the industry, the greatest good is 

 likely to be derived from the collection and dissemination of knowledge 

 relative to the culture of the avocado, and for several years it is prob- 

 able that the main interests of the Association will center on discussions 

 of varieties, propagation, cultivation, irrigation, and like problems. Soon, 

 however, we will be confronted with marketing problems and the de- 

 velopment of markets. Indeed in this direction in my judgment, 

 it behooves us to be at work continuously. To provide a market 

 for our fruits, people must be taught to use them. We must recognize 

 conditions as they exist. At the present time the avocado is known only 

 to a few thousand people, and a large crop of fruits could not be sold to 

 advantage. The greatest problem of all the problems before the Asso- 

 ciation is to educate a sufficient number of our people to the use of the 

 avocado, to provide a market for the fruit as rapidly as our new plant- 

 ings come into bearing. 



Condition of the Industry in California 

 The avocado in California is such a new industry and interest in its 

 culture has developed so rapidly that only a comparatively small number 

 of growers and nurserymen in the center of the activities have any ade- 

 quate idea of the greatness and magnitude of the development in California. 

 I quote the following statement from a publication of one of the best 

 known avocado growers of Florida: "This tree (the avocado) is the 

 greatest money producer for Southern Florida, and the people of Southern 

 California have gone wild over it, even though they have to send to 

 Florida for seed, grafts and trees." It is clear that this gentleman is not 

 aware that California has already developed 10 varieties to Florida's one 

 and that it has already been pretty definitely proven that our native Cali- 

 fornia seedling varieties are far better suited to our climatic conditions 

 than any of the varieties imported from Florida. We do not necessarily 

 need their stocks and varieties, but we do desire to try everything they 

 have available to be sure of keeping our industry in the fore-front of the 

 advance. 



The old seedling avocado trees in Florida and in California are in gen- 

 eral of about the same age, but the planting of commercial groves began 

 in Florida at least 10 years earlier than in California. In Florida the in- 

 terest in commercial avocado culture began about 1900; while in Califor- 

 nia the first interest in commercial plantings can hardly be said to have 

 started prior to 1910 or 1912. 



In California even today our planting is very small and altogether 

 probably does not exceed more than a total of 300 to 400 acres. In large 

 part this area is of young trees from two to four years of age. The Cali- 

 fornia industry is founded on the results obtained with a few trees planted 

 in isolated places in dooryards, such as, the Chappelow tree at Monrovia 

 and the Ganter tree at Whittier. The sale of fruits from some of these 

 old trees, together with the sale of bud wood, has netted such fabulous 

 incomes as to stimulate a gold fever interest. We must remember, how- 

 ever, that in the development of the industry the financial returns quoted 

 from such trees are even more exceptional than California weather, and 



