io8 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
dropped owing to my absence from the 
state, thus losing the trade so favorably 
started. 
Following the results of last year’s 
work, a campaign had been planned to 
market as much as possible of the 1917 
crop of avocados by parcel post, but I 
am forced to again suspend the work, 
this time on account of the disastrous 
results of the cold of February first. 
Before the 1916 crop was ready to be 
offered to the consumer, mailing boxes 
and other necessary supplies were secured, 
and for six months I was able to give 
parcel post marketing the second trial,— 
again with satisfactory results. The 
many courteous responses to my request 
that I be informed of the condition of 
the fruit at point of destination have 
furnished information for the writing of 
this paper. 
I have sent parcel post packages to 
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, D. 
C., Massachusetts, New Jersey, Minne¬ 
sota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Washing¬ 
ton (State), New Mexico, Louisiana, 
Georgia and Florida. So far as known, 
only two boxes were received by the 
consignee in poor condition. One was 
due to the use of a damaged box. The 
loss of the other—sent to New Mexico— 
was unaccounted for. 
I was determined to test the parcel post 
shipments into this territory, so a second 
box was packed exactly as the first, and 
it was reported to have arrived in good 
condition. Several fruits were remailed 
to Alberta, Canada, from a box sent to 
Seattle, Wash. 
My work so far has been mostly with 
seedling avocados and, as is well known, 
there are as many variations in the fruit 
from such a grove, as there are trees in 
the grove. The fruit from different trees 
varies also as to time of softening after 
being cut from the tree. 
Unless otherwise noted in the order, I 
made it a point to select fruits from sev¬ 
eral trees. This gives a pleasing varia¬ 
tion in appearance to the parcel, and also 
insures that the fruit will not all soften at 
the same time. With an adequate supply 
of budded fruits, and the trade knowing 
what variety to call for, the uniform box 
will probably prove the better seller. 
ADVERTISING 
When the fruit on the trees was suf¬ 
ficiently mature to allow time for an 
advertisement to appear in the paper and 
the consumer to place an order, the 
Family Box was advertised in one of our 
State papers. The proper wording of 
this advertisement was a problem to an 
amateur. The one finally used stated the 
size of the box in inches and price. It is 
not practicable to advertise by the dozen. 
As this method brought results, I shall 
use the same advertisement, or a similar 
one, in future mail order work, and have 
it appear regularly during the season. 
A well satisfied customer is one of the 
best advertisements the grower can have, 
so care must be taken to please the buyer. 
The extra work and cost of putting up 
parcel post boxes must not be overlooked 
by the grower in stating his price. The 
consumer has the advantage of getting 
fruit in the shortest possible time after 
being cut from the tree. 
