CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



175 



avocado oil is also to be considered in this connection and perhaps 

 other manufactured products. 



Another contrast is in the familiarity with the fruit. In Hawaii 

 every child as well as adult is familiar with it while in many parts of 

 Calfornia it is still spoken of as the "new fruit". But with the present 

 rate of planting it will not be long: before the same familiarity will be 

 established. 



There is no frost resistance problem in Hawaii since all the avocados 

 are produced on the low lands where frost and even cold weather is 

 unknown. Hawaiian experience in this matter is therefore of no value 

 to California. 



In propagation, budding with the ordinary shield bud inserted in 

 comparatively tender wood has become the established method for multi- 

 plying the best varieties. Comparatively young wood is also used for 

 buds and the incision is made in the form of a "T" or an inverted "T" 

 with no apparent advantage in either form. Budding is done chiefly on 

 seedlings in one gallon tins or in the young trees where they are to 

 remain permanently. There is very little growing of trees in nursery 

 form and "balling" them for transplanting, first because it has been 

 found that with many inexperienced planters the tree in the pot is safer. 

 Potted plants are also less likely to distribute a very noxious weed 

 known as "nut grass". Under California conditions, the regular nursery 

 practice of balling the trees has much to recommend it. 



Hawaii abounds in varieties yet many of them have not been tried out 

 under varying conditions. Perhaps it would be more correct to state 

 that Hawaii abounds in seedlings from among which not a few appear 

 to be worthy of propagation and naming as varieties. The classification 

 of these does not conform to the terms which have become more or less 

 common in California, "Hard shell" and "Thin skinned" or "Mexican'^. 

 Many of the varieties with thin skin are not of Mexican origin and 

 certainly not of the type grown in highland Mexico. They are in 

 many cases, large, vary greatly in shape and have no odor resemblmg 

 anise. It has been suggested to avoid confusion, that these be called 

 "West Indian", that the term "Mexican" be reserved for those varieties 

 from the highlands of Mexico with thin rind. For the type with the 

 hard and woody rind, perhaps the term "Guatemalan" is as appropriate 

 as any and is in little danger of producing any confusion. 



Most of the varieties in Hawaii are of the type just designated as 

 "West Indian"; the "Guatemalan" is not uncommon, but the "Mexican" 

 is comparatively rarer. A number of varieties from Hawaii have been 

 tested out or are being tested by two of your foremost growers, Mr. W. A. 

 Spinks and Mr. Joseph Sexton, as well as by others in a smaller way. 

 Either of these gentlemen can give accurate information as to the be- 

 havior of Hawaiian avocados in California. It is probable that many 

 of them will not prove as resistant to frost as those that have come to 

 California direct from Mexico. It has been stated that some of the 

 Guatemalan types from Hawaii have shown considerable frost resistance. 



The breeding of new varieties of avocados is a field of much promise. 

 Merely by seed selection much has been done through the many years 



