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FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
of not less than six inches. Where this 
method has been tried out it has given ex¬ 
cellent results. The majority of the older 
plantings of Avocados in this section did 
not have any preparation of the land prior 
to planting. In a good many cases the 
tree stumps were not removed, and has 
proven to be a sad mistake and should not 
be repeated. Where no preparation of 
the land was made as stated above, the 
grower worked out a system of breaking 
the coraline rock from two to six feet 
around each individual tree during each 
year until the entire tract has been brok¬ 
en up. If this work is done in time, or 
in other words, if the root system has 
not been retarded to any great extent, the 
results obtained are very satisfactory. 
The distance of planting the Avocado 
in grove form, should be given consider¬ 
able thought, as in after years one may 
wonder just why he left so little room 
around his trees, in which to do the 
spraying, fertilizing and the harvesting of 
his crops. I would not think of planting 
any trees less than twenty-five feet in the 
row, and the rows the same distance 
apart, unless it was the kumquat. As the 
trees increase in size from year to year, 
one will find it very convenient to be able 
to drive down the middle of the rows 
without coming in contact with the 
branches of the trees. 
Selection of the race and variety of 
trees that are to be planted is a question 
that is somewhat trying and often proves 
to be very expensive to the grower. A 
profitable planting will consist of trees 
that will fruit during different months of 
the year. The reason for this is plain 
when you consider that about 90% of the 
Avocados grown in this section today are 
fruiting during the months of August, 
September, October and November. 
We have two distinct races—West In¬ 
dian and Guatemalan—from which to 
make selections as to variety. The West 
Indian race has been extensively planted 
in this county, and has been used as stock 
in the propagation of the Guatemalan va¬ 
rieties. The Guatemalan race of Avo¬ 
cados has proven to be more hardy than 
the West Indian, and no doubt will be 
used as stock in nursery work, if the sup¬ 
ply ever exceeds the demand. But with 
Guatemalan Avocados selling from five 
to ten dollars per dozen, I see no relief 
in sight for some time to come, in order 
to use this race for nursery stock. 
In making your selection of the vari¬ 
eties you intend planting it would be well 
to know if they are climatically suited to 
your location. This is particularly true 
of the Guatemalan race, as they come to us 
from their native home, from far above 
sea level. Mr. Wilson Popenoe, of the 
Department of Agriculture, tells us that 
he had found Avocados growing at an al¬ 
titude of 8.500 feet. With this informa¬ 
tion I am not at all surprised at the be¬ 
havior of some of these varieties when 
planted a few feet above sea level. 
I hope that sometime in the near fu¬ 
ture the Avocado growers will get to¬ 
gether and select a standard as to variety 
and to season of fruiting. This should 
be done for the benefit of the present 
grower, and more so for those who expect 
to embark in this enterprise. 
The following varieties of Avocados 
have done exceptionally well in this sec- 
