THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
113 
try is usually acquired by the stranger if his first attempts 
do not create a prejudice so strong as to prevent further ex- 
periments. As examples of foods that when first tried out- 
side of their native country were by most people either dis- 
liked or considered insipid, but which have since become 
firmly established may be mentioned olives, bananas, arti- 
chokes, chocolate, tomatoes, curries and peppers. \\'ith 
avocados the taste is usually acquired after two or three 
attempts, and many profess a fondness for the fruit at the 
first trial. That the taste when once acquired amounts to 
almost to a craving is attested by prices paid for the fruit 
in the northern markets, where 15 cents each is about the 
lowest figure at which the>- can be bought, and good fruit 
usually sells as high as 30 cents, though 50 or 60 cent^ is 
not an uncommon price. The avocado may thus be said to 
have taken the first steps along the lines by which most for- 
eign fruits have been successfully introduced. An early 
impetus was received when the fruit was ser\-ed on the 
tables of the rich and fashionable, its intrinsic merit being 
aided, without doubt, by the desire to inaugurate a novelty 
at once rare and expensive. The tendency- to imitate this 
use assisted in increasing the demand until the fashionable 
hotels were able to score a point by adding the fruit to their 
menus. From this stage to that of introduction into the 
markets and fruit stores, where the general public will make 
its acquaintance, is. perhaps, the slowest and most crucial 
step in the history of a successful new product, and one that 
the avocado is at present undergoing. — From Indian Plant- 
ing and Gardening. 
