36 



1917 ANNUAL REPORT 



noted in the 1915 report of this Association. The trees at Los Gates, 

 VisaHa and Napa have borne fruit for several seasons. Budded trees of 

 the Pomona, Fowler, Blake, Harman, and Wagner, produced fruit in 

 1916 in the interior valleys, and scores of trees are blooming heavily this 

 season. At Oroville a large tree of the Mexican type grown from a 

 seedling started in 1905, bore 1 fruit at nine years, 2 at ten, and 5 at 

 eleven years of age. The tree is now 25 feet high and has proven per- 

 fectly hardy. At Sunnyslope in Butte County such varieties as the Harman 

 and Northrop have been grown and propagated for several years. 



The success of the avocado in the middle of the Sacramento Valley 

 away from the foothills is questionable. In the spring of 1914 Mr. 

 Skinner, a member of this Association, planted 1 40 high-land Mexican 

 seedlings in orchard form among standard prune trees at Yuba City. 

 The following winter about one-half were frosted on account of their 

 tender growth due to late irrigation. Budded trees of the following 

 varieties were also set out early in 1914: Chappelow, Sinaloa, Walker, 

 Meserve, Dickinson, Taft, Queretaro, Harman, Atlixco, Dickey, and 

 Ganter. These came through the winter without serious injury although 

 they were not covered or protected. During the winter of 1915-16 the 

 minimum temperature was 22°, but the cold was not prolonged. The 

 Taft, Dickinson and Dickey frosted most, while the Walker and Ganter 

 had only the tender branches injured. Four inches of snow fell after the 

 heaviest freeze ; this settled on the branches of one tree near the house and 

 broke 4 feet out of the top, leaving 5 feet of trunk and branches. The 

 Sinaloa trees showed no signs of frost injury. 



During 1916a number of other trees representing twenty-two varie- 

 ties, were set out, while neighbors in town planted nine more; there were 

 altogether forty different varieties in the vicinity for testing. The winter 

 of 1916-17 was unusually severe as shown by the following report by 

 Mr. Skinner on January 1, 1917: "It has been freezing steadily for the 

 past six weeks and I could not tell just what would become of my 

 avocado trees. I have five large seedlings, 8 to 1 feet high, that will 

 come through in good shape; all the rest are frozen to the ground, or at 

 least down to the protectors around the trunks. One Sebastian and one 

 Knowles which were in a more protected place look better. The ther- 

 momenter ranged from 21 ° to 26°, and for a long time every morning the 

 ground would be frozen until noon, and a cold north wind often blew for 

 days. The trees will likely start up strong from the roots and make new 

 tops." A later report states that: "The avocado trees stood more freezing 

 than any of the citrus trees of the same age. The latter were all killed 

 and are not starting from the roots; the avocado trees are sprouting out, 

 some at 3 to 6 feet high, others near the ground." 



The trees in town came through in much better shape. One grower 

 wrote that the Chappelow, Northrop, Harman, and a couple of seedling 

 trees were blooming heavily the first of May. He believes that some of 

 the hardy varieties can be grown in that section, although they should not 

 be tried as a commercial proposition. His place is undoubtedly much 

 warmer than it would be a mile or more away from the river and away 

 from buildings which serve as a protection. 



On the Requa Ranch at Orland 60 Northrop trees planted in 1916 

 were uninjured by the cold of the following winter. All with one excep- 



