CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



145 



WHAT ABOUT THE AVOCADO? 

 By C. E. Utt, Orange, Cal. 



The title of this paper would indicate inquiry. Can the avocado be 

 grown successfully in California? Will its cultivation assume consider- 

 able proportions? Will the growing of avocados prove remunerative? 

 Will it prove a disappointment and a loss? Will we over-supply the 

 market? Can the market be extended? 



These and many other questions come to mind when we discuss the 

 avocado. In fact, this is much the same set of questions that has con- 

 fronted practically all the other fruit industries that have been intro- 

 duced in California; and often it has taken a long time and many ex- 

 pensive and disastrous experiments before we have been able thoroughly 

 to establish some of these industries. 



I believe it likely that the avocado will be quite extensively culti- 

 vated, and that where the business is intelligently conducted it will prove 

 remunerative. I think it will prove a loss and a disappointment to 

 many. Without doubt the market will at times be over-supplied, but 

 that the consumption may be extended to great proportions is a reason- 

 able supposition. 



It took us about thirty years to find out that we should only attempt 

 to grow two varieties of oranges. It is quite likely that we shall find 

 use for more than two varieties of avocados, but it is a safe guess that 

 we shall eliminate and forget the greater part of the 139 varieties that 

 are being boosted by fond owners and enthusiastic nurserymen. I shall 

 return to the question of varieties later. 



We also have the question of proper location for our orchards, — 

 soil, climate, water supply, winds, etc. Undoubtedly we shall find some 

 localities better adapted to the economical and profitable cultivation of 

 this fruit than others, just as there are best places to grow oranges and 

 olives and raisins and prunes and apples and walnuts. 



Some twenty odd years ago the olive bpom swept over California. 

 This boom was largely caused by the nurserymen, who by the skillful 

 advertising and exploitation of the enormous profits to be had by any 

 one who would plant olives anywhere, created a sale for their nursery 

 stock. We were told that the olive would thrive in the moist lowlands 

 and in the arid sterile hillsides. In fact, olives would do well anywhere, 

 everywhere. Just plant them out and neglect them; they would thrive 

 on neglect. All we had to do was to plant an olive orchard, and retire to 

 the city and spend the great profits. In fact, most of our fruit industries 

 have been cursed by ignorance, the bombast of promoters, and the "great 

 expectations" of enthusiasts, and the avocado is proving no exception. 



Location: — My experience and observation have led me to the conclu- 

 sion that the locality best suited to the successful and profitable growing 

 of avocados is the one with the least wind and the least frost, the best 

 soil and the best water supply. The avocado will suffer much more 

 from the wind than the orange or lemon. In fact, I do not think it 



