CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



165 



THE AVOCADO IN FLORIDA 

 John B. Beach, Proprietor Indian River Nurseries, 

 West Palm Beach, Florida. 



The avocado may be said to be as nearly indigenous to Florida as the 

 wild orange, lemon and lime. All were introduced from elsev^here, either 

 by the Spaniards or later settlers, none dating back to pre-historic times. 

 Old government records show that in 1835 "Alligator pears were killed 

 at St. Augustine", and they were very likely introduced from the 

 Bahamas or Cuba in the early part of the last century. The more 

 tender West Indian type to which our trees belong, has been kept con- 

 fined to the more tropical portions of the peninsula, gradually working up 

 farther north, only to be destroyed by such severe freezes as that of 

 1835. For instance at the present date there are seedling trees on the 

 lower St. Johns and at St. Augustine which are bearing fruit, the fact 

 being that no cold severe enough to kill them has visited the state at 

 large since 1905. The more hardy Guatemalan and Mexican types, which 

 are grown in California exclusively, have never gotten a foothold in 

 Florida, owing to the rapidity with which the seed loses its vitality, and 

 the fact that these types do not appear in any of the nearby islands, the 

 only exception which the writer knows of is a tree at Earlton, near 

 Waldo, belonging to Baron von Luttichau. This tree, which belongs to the 

 Mexican type, is about 30 feet high, and Prof. H. H. Hume writes that 

 it first came to his notice in 1901, at which time it looked to be six or 

 eight years old. It is reported to have never been injured by cold, and 

 to bear fruit more or less regularly, while orange trees close by have 

 twice been killed to the ground. 



About the largest tree of the West Indian type is found at Dunedin, 

 on the Gulf of Mexico, due west from Tampa. This tree was frozen to 

 within 25 feet of the ground in 1895-6, but has apparently been unharmed 

 since that time. It is about 5 feet in diameter and 40 feet high, with 

 a spread of 60 feet. It produces regular crops of 2500 to 3000 fruit 

 annually, averaging IV2 pounds each, and is owned by Mr. B. C. Bass. 

 During the past eight years various seedlings of Guatemalan, Mexican, 

 and Hawaiian origin, as well as budded trees, have been introduced by th*> 

 United States Agricultural Department and have been distributed for ex- 

 periment among growers in south Florida, and planted at the Miami 

 Experimental Station. Among these, one of Guatemalan type, called 

 Taylor, has been fruiting for four seasons, and has been deemed worthy of 

 description in tlie Department publications. It is a seedling. Following 

 is a description of fruit by Wilson Popenoe: 



"Description of the fruit: General form pyriform to obovate; size — • 

 length 4 to 5 inches; breadth 2% to SV2 inches, weight 12 to 18 ounces; 

 stem rather long, rather slender; base tapering, but not usually distinctly 

 necked; apex rounded; surface undulating to rough, dull green in color; 

 skin 1-16-inch thick, granular, woody, separating readily from the flesh; 

 flesh yellowish-cream color, pale green near the skin, V2 to %-inch thick, 



