CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



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at the ground and allowing a shoot to come up from below the old bud, 

 then working from that. As some trees grow so much more thriftily 

 than others, it is not advisable to mix them up too much. This is not 

 practical with trees of any considerable size. 



I have a Challenge bud, growing in a Harman trunk, and a similar 

 one in a seedling stock about 25 feet away, and there is no comparison 

 between the two. The one on the Harman is a year older than the seed- 

 ling, and it is not as large. I know of instances where growers have been 

 advised to plant Harmans to be top- worked later, when we know more 

 definitely what we want to grow. My experience has taught me that we 

 are going against trouble when we pursue this course. I have sometimes 

 thought that our nurserymen were over-persuaded that this was true be- 

 cause they were long on Harmans. 



Quite a few people in my neighborhood thought well of the avocado 

 outlook and planted quite liberally, only to learn that the variety they have 

 is not worth while. One man dug up about 2 acres because he was unable 

 to determine what variety was best to grow. So much has been said about 

 the difFerent trees, and some are condemning them while others will pro- 

 nounce them all right, that the uninitiated are unable to determine who is 

 right, and so they let it alone. 



I am very optimistic about the future of the avocado, despite the 

 fact that I have bought about all the trees that did not pan out. 



A man in Florida had a secret process for grafting avocados that he 

 assured us was a winner. He asked $500 for it, but I could not think 

 he had very much over us here in California, and later he sent it to me 

 for the same price I got for my nursery. It would not work for me. 



I had 14 trees that fruited last year, ranging from a half dozen 

 fruits to 350. On account of the high cost of potatoes, we only sold a 

 few. The price we received was very satisfactory. When I learned 

 that some of them were bought by Mexican laborers, I thought they sold 

 too high. 



The thin-skins showed a tendency to drop just before they ripened. 

 I was unable to determine why this was so. Possibly it was from a lack 

 of water, as I withhold irrigation in the fall to prepare the trees for winter. 



I could not grow the Trapp variety. It froze badly each winter, and 

 I dug all the trees out. 



With foot-rot and gum disease in our orange orchards, and black 

 scale that is immune to cyanide, the avocado looks mighty good to me. 

 Those of you that have tried replacing an orange tree in an old grove 

 know what you are up against. I can get more results with an avocado 

 tree in three years than with an orange tree in seven. Next year will see 

 every unprofitable orange tree in my grove removed, and there are a mighty 

 lot of them in most groves I know anything about. The avocado is going 

 to be a great boon to orange growers who have a lot of trees that should 

 be dug out. 



NOTES ON AVOCADO VARIETIES FOR COMMERCIAL 



ORCHARDS 

 By Chas. D. Adams, Upland, Cal. 



To the increasing number who want to make a start toward plant- 

 ing commercial orchards of avocados there is no more important and 



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