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1916 ANNUAL REPORT 



those present who are not already members, and not alone those inter- 

 ested in avocado growing, but also everyone interested in fostering in the 

 state so important and attractive an industry. 



AVOCADO PERFORMANCE RECORDS 



By L. B. Scott, Pomologist, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



Mr. Chairman, and members of the California Avocado Association. 

 I am intensely interested in the avocado industry, and I believe there 

 is a future for this fruit, provided its culture and development is re- 

 stricted to saffe and sane channels. In this connection I know of no 

 other one factor which is bound to play as important a part in the 

 development of this industry as the securing of individual tree per- 

 formance records. 



The success of the California citrus industry has been due to the 

 fact that early in its development a few varieties were found suited 

 to conditions here. The standard citrus varieties in this state can be 

 counted on the fingers of one hand, the Washington Navel and Valencia 

 oranges, the Eureka and Lisbon lemons, and the Marsh grapefruit. 

 These varieties have distinct characteristics and are easily recognized by 

 the trade. 



However, even within the standard citrus varieties a wide variation 

 has been found. Mr. A. D. Shamel, of the Office of Horticultural and 

 Pomological Investigations of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, in 1909 began an investigation of the improvement of citrus 

 fruits through bud selection which has shown that even the standard 

 citrus varieties are made up of a number of strains, some worthy of 

 propagation, others not. It is not necessary for me at this time to 

 review the progfess of this work, because you are all familiar with 

 the details and many of you in your citrus orchards, are securing com- 

 mercial records of the output from your individual trees. I have referred 

 to citrus conditions simply to show what has been accomplished with 

 these fruits and that the work already done in stabilizing and standard- 

 izing our citrus fruit products may be of assistance to us in working 

 out similar methods for our rapidly developing avocado industry. 



In Florida one standard fall avocado of the thin-skinned leathery 

 class, the Trapp, has been secured. It is true, it is claimed by many, 

 that the Trapp is lacking in quality but the fact remains that this 

 variety is known to the northern markets. Because it is already es- 

 tablished, this variety is going to represent the large bulk of the Florida 

 plantings for many years to come. During the summer months an 

 entirely different condition prevails. No variety as yet has been de- 

 veloped or planted in sufficient numbers to be known as a standard 

 Florida summer variety. The result is that the northern and eastern 

 markets receive shipments from Florida and the West Indies of seedling 

 avocados and mixed crates of seedlings and budded fruits of exceedingly 

 variable quality. Unfortunately the consumer has no means of deter- 

 mining which of the two avocados lying side by side in a basket is a 

 good quality fruit and which a poor. This accounts in part for the fact 



