64 



1916 ANNUAL REPORT 



It appeals to the writer that in planting avocados at the present 

 time in commercial orchards, it would be a wise plan to follow one of 

 two methods: first, to plant the trees in squares, 50 to 60 feet apart, with 

 a filler tree in the middle of each square that can be taken out when 

 the trees become so large as to interfere; or second, to plant the trees 

 50 to 60 feet apart and interplant with a supplementary, shorter lived 

 tree crop, such as apricots, peaches, permissons, fejoas, or figs. (See 

 article on "Planting Plans" in latter part of this report. 



If trees are grown too close together so that they interfere, the 

 trees will grow tall, and all of the crop will be deveoped in the uppermost 

 branches rather than on the lower branches where they are desired. 



Shaping the Trees. — The best avocado trees we now possess have 

 been allowed in large measure to develop without any guidance. Like 

 Topsy, they have "just growed," and thus we can derive considerable 

 instruction from a study of these trees as to the different branching types 

 and their desirability from a commercial orchard standpoint. The character 

 of branching of the original seedling tree of a variety must not be taken 

 as any sure indication particularly of the character of branching of the 

 bud progeny, although it is much harder to make certain trees spread out 

 than others. There is a certain variation between varieties in the natural 

 branching habits. It is probable, however, that the main differences, good 

 or bad, in the branching of the original seedling trees, is in considerable 

 measure accidental and capable of great modification under the guiding 

 hand of man. That young avocado buds may be trimmed and shaped to 

 considerable extent has been fully demonstrated, I judge, as will be 

 brought out in the papers presented at this meeting. 



The natural branching of the Mexican and Guatemalan types of avo- 

 cados, with which we are most concerned, is apparently of nearly the 

 same general habit, but marked differences are shown by different va- 

 rieties. In the Guatemalan group, the Taft is a particularly good spread- 

 ing tree. This is shown by the original seedling and by the budded trees. 

 The Lyon in the original tree is a tall, columnar tree, somewhat re- 

 sembling a Lombardy poplar in habit and while this habit is doubtless 

 over emphasized by the original seedling, still the budded trees of the 

 Lyon show strong tendency to grow upright in this form. The Perfect© 

 is a tall, upright grower in budded trees, and judging from the original 

 seedlings, the Carton and the Dickinson varieties might be assumed to 

 be of similar shape. These latter varieties, however, in budded trees 

 examined in various places give evidence of producing spreading trees 



