Avocados in Polk County 
L. D. Niles, Lucerne Park 
The Avocado is undoubtedly the most 
promising fruit among those bidding for 
popular favor at the present time; it has 
overcome much skepticism and now ap¬ 
pears in varieties that can be grown 
throughout most of the citrus section. 
It is difficult at present to define the 
exact climatic and soil conditions most 
favorable to the Avocado tree, as the dif¬ 
ferent races vary in their adaptability 
under local conditions. 
Taking Polk County for our illustra¬ 
tion, it has been demonstrated that as a 
commercial proposition, the West Indian 
race which comes from the moist low¬ 
lands and sea coasts of tropical America 
is much more susceptible to frosts than 
either the Guatemalan, which comes from 
the highlands of southern Mexico and 
Guatemala, or the quite hardy Mexican 
from the table lands of central and north¬ 
ern Mexico. 
It is true, however, that there are quite 
a number of old, large West Indian seed¬ 
ling trees in Polk County, some of which 
were injured only in 1895. There are 
two at Frostproof, and others near Win¬ 
ter Haven. One seedling in Polk County 
measures 12 feet in circumference at 12 
inches from the ground and is well over 
40 feet in height. All must admit that 
this is quite a sizeable tree. I estimate 
the tree to be 40 feet in height. 
On March 26, 1921, the tree was near¬ 
ly through blooming and the indications 
were for a very light crop; in fact it has 
always been a shy bearer. While this un¬ 
doubtedly proves that the West Indian 
will grow in this section we are satisfied 
the race is too tender for a commercial 
planting. However, when one takes into 
consideration the rapidity with which 
they renew their fruiting wood, it shows 
that if one takes the precaution to bank 
above the bud, even the tender varieties 
are practical for home orchard planting 
as they can renew their top and fruit 
again in two or three years. 
Pollock and Trapp trees in our planting 
at Lucerne Park are fully as large today 
as before the cold of 1917, and some of 
them matured fruit last year; proving 
that they recuperate very quickly from 
« 
cold injury. As the fruit is excellent and 
budded trees bear at an early age, a few 
of this race should by all means be plant¬ 
ed near the house for home use. 
To illustrate the precocity of the Trapp 
variety, the following is a summary of 
tree performance records of some trees 
at Lucerne Park. This block of Trapps 
was planted in April, 1912, and this sum¬ 
mary shows the average yield per tree 
per year. In the year 1914 the average 
number of fruits per tree was 1.30; in 
1915, 6.70; in 1916, 34.33. These trees 
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