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1916 ANNUAL REPORT 



THE GROWING OF THE AVOCADO IN HAWAII 

 By J. E. Higgins, Horticulturist Hawaii Experiment Station. 



Ladies and Gentlemen of the California Avocado Association: 



Your president has requested me to prepare a paper relating to the 

 avocado as it is known in Hawaii. It gives me much pleasure to respond 

 to this request because of my deep interest in your rapidly developing 

 infant industry which I have watched attentively from its earliest begin- 

 ning, having made several visits to Southern California to observe the 

 progress being made. 



First permit me to congratulate the members of the Association on the 

 change in the name of the organization adopting the name "Avocado." 

 The name "Avocado" is now so firmly established in all English-speaking 

 parts of the tropics and it had taken so long to eliminate the many 

 undesirable terms applied to the fruit, that it seems unquestionably best 

 to retain Avocado as the most appropriate. 



Perhaps it will be of most interest to consider the subject in its 

 relation to the avocado growing industry in California and in its con- 

 trasts as seen from the standpoint of California. In California you have 

 the beginning of an industry and one that appears to be destined to be of 

 very great import. In Hawaii, there is no industry of avocado growing 

 in the strict sense of the term and yet there are probably many more 

 bearing avocado trees in Hawaii than there are in California. The trees 

 are to be found in almost every dooryard and the fruit is common in 

 the markets, yet few if any people are making a business of producing 

 it. The markets of the city of Honolulu and those of the smaller 

 towns of the Territory are supplied with the surplus from dooryards 

 and from a few irregular plantings of very small extent. Orchards 

 are almost unknown. 



Why is it that with so grand a fruit as the avocado in a country so 

 admirably adapted to its growth and fruit-bearing, there has been no 

 development of an industry in its production? It will be remembered that 

 it is only a few years since the avocado began to be thought of as a 

 commercial fruit. It was also said to be extremely difficult of propa- 

 gation by budding or grafting. These problems were attacked by 

 horticulturists in different parts of the tropical and sub-tropical world 

 and the difficulties of propagation soon passed away. The avocado was by 

 this time attracting considerable attention and a number of progressive 

 men in Hawaii were ready to plant orchards. Then the Mediterranean 

 Fruit Fly made its appearance in Hawaii and established itself. Although 

 its attacks upon the fruit are so few that it does not materially interfer 

 with production, it has cut off the possibilities of marketing the fruit on 

 the mainland of the United States for the present. As this was the chief 

 outlet that was looked to by those who considered the business seriously 

 there have not been any considerable developments. Methods of refriger- 

 ating the insects, immune varieties of the fruit and other outlets for 

 the fruit may in time make a change in this matter. The production of 



