Spraying for Avocado Diseases 
H. E. Stevens, Ft. Myers, Florida 
Last year, in a paper read before this 
Society, I mentioned some spraying ex¬ 
periments for the control of Avocado dis¬ 
eases which the Experiment Station then 
had in progress. At that time it was too 
early to anticipate what the results would 
be. Today I wish to again refer to those 
experiments and give you the results that 
were obtained since this work was done 
in the Redland section of Dade County. 
I believe this information will be of in¬ 
terest to the Avocado growers of this 
section of the State or other sections 
where diseases of the Avocado fruit are 
troublesome. 
If you will pardon a little digression, I 
would like to touch on the future possi¬ 
bilities of the Avocado in Florida, for a 
few moments. I believe that a substan¬ 
tial and profitable industry can be de¬ 
veloped in this line, not only with the 
Avocado but with the Mango and other 
sub-tropical fruits that seem to be well 
adapted to culture in South Florida. 
This view is becoming more prevalent 
among our home folks and even the new¬ 
comer expecting to make Florida his 
home. This industry is yet new and few 
have gone into it in a strictly commer¬ 
cial way, but at the present time I find 
many people who are interested in devel¬ 
oping plantings of this nature and I be¬ 
lieve that the Horticultural Society can 
aid materially in fostering such a spirit 
and at the same time help to establish 
such an industry on a sound basis. There 
is a demand for information concerning 
these crops which can hardly be supplied 
from our present general store of knowl¬ 
edge. In any new horticultural enterprise 
the development usually moves slowly, 
but the time has now arrived when 
greater impetus should be given to find¬ 
ing out just what can be done with the 
Avocado and Mango in a commercial 
way, how these crops can best be handled 
and what prospects do they offer for the 
future. Is it a safe and sane policy to in¬ 
vest one’s money in commercial plantings 
of this nature for the future? These are 
some of the questions that come to the 
beginner. 
Personally, I am optimistic in regard 
to the future of the Avocado and Mango, 
and believe that the time is not far distant 
when these fruits will be as much in evi¬ 
dence on our leading markets of the 
country as the grapefruit is today. We 
do not have to go very far back into his¬ 
tory to find the grapefruit regarded as a 
novelty, yet today there are thousands of 
cares in grapefruit groves and more acres 
are being planted each year. Why should 
this not apply to the Avocado and Mango, 
69 
