FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
105 
that has been originated in Florida to 
date, having been grown from seed at 
the Miami Station. Its season here is 
from January to April, and those who 
are testing it consider it promising for 
further trial. An introduction of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
which has been propagated under the 
name of Collins, is a very late variety, 
ripening at Miami from April to May. 
The fruit, while small, is of high quality 
and the tree is a vigorous grower. A 
very promising new Guatemalan variety, 
introduced from Honolulu, is now bear¬ 
ing at the Miami station for the first 
time. This variety his been propagated 
under the name of Beardsley. In point 
of vigor, late season, and quality, it is 
one of the most interesting trees so far 
tested. 
THE MEXICAN RACE 
The Mexican race originated probably 
in the highlands of Mexico. The trees 
are distinguished by a curious anise-like 
scent of the leaves, and are markedly 
hardier than either the West Indian or 
Guatemalan types. In the recent freeze 
small trees withstood temperatures below 
23 degrees, while large trees have under¬ 
gone temperatures of 20 degrees without 
serious injury, indicating a hardiness ap¬ 
parently as great as the orange. 
One seedling Mexican tree has been 
growing at Waldo, Alachua County, for 
many years. Most of the Mexican trees 
now growing in Florida are seedlings, 
but several choice named Mexican varie¬ 
ties are now available. The fruits of 
most of these varieties are high in quality 
but usually very small in size, and often 
inclined to decay on ripening, so that 
most authorities consider them unprofi¬ 
table for commercial groves. For home 
and local use, however, they will doubt¬ 
less prove of great value, especially for 
localities too cold for the West Indian 
and Guatemalan varieties. 
Among the most promising of the 
Mexican varieties for Florida is Harmon 
which ripens at Miami in July. The 
fruit, although small, is rich and oily and 
one of the earliest in season. Several 
other promising named varieties are on 
the market. 
COMMERCIAL VARITIES for FLORIDA 
Perhaps the leading question among 
avocado growers today is “What varie¬ 
ties shall we plant?” Until the Guate¬ 
malan varieties have been more fully test¬ 
ed, commercial planting in Florida will be 
largely limited to the West Indian varie¬ 
ties. Most growers of experience agree 
on Trapp for 75 per cent or more of the 
groves. Many will plant a good block of 
the best summer varieties, and this would 
seem to be an excellent plan. The sum¬ 
mer varieties are already in good de¬ 
mand, and moreover the man who has 
them is able to start shipping earlier and 
thus better satisfy his customers. In ad¬ 
dition to Trapp and earlier sorts, most 
growers plan to plant and test out a few 
trees each of the most promising Guate¬ 
malan and new West Indian varieties. 
VARIETIES FOR HOME GROVES 
While commercial culture is at present 
limited to the tender varieties and hence 
