Some Observations on Avocados in Custard 
Apple Muck 
H. O. Sebring, Sebring 
In April, 1919, I paid my first visit to 
the territory lying on the south side of 
Lake Okeechobee, known as the Ritta sec¬ 
tion. The land is a rich custard ap¬ 
ple hammock soil, well drained, and has 
on it a growth of tall custard apple trees, 
or where these have blown down, a thick 
growth of elders. We found a hotel at 
the mouth of the Miami Canal, and from 
that point visited the section along the 
lake for a distance of ten or twelve miles, 
also Ritta Island. 
At every home, we found a few Avo¬ 
cados ; seeds having been planted, and in 
every instance, they were growing fine, 
and some of the stories told us were un¬ 
believable. The oldest tree was on the 
Sewell place, having been planted in 1910, 
and at this time was about forty feet in 
height and eighteen inches in diameter at 
the base. None of the trees had had any 
fertilizer, and from appearances, they had 
had no care. On this immediate shore, 
there seemed to be no effect of the cold 
of 1917? as Royal Palms, Avocados, 
guavas, Australian pines, rubber trees and 
other tropical growths were doing fine. 
We were unable to locate on this trip, 
any budded stock, and were disappoint¬ 
ed with the amount of fruit that had set 
on the seedling trees, but everyone told us 
they had carried heavy crops the year be¬ 
fore. 
Later, we made a trip to the plantation 
of Mr. Ed. Forbes on the north end of 
Ritta Island, and to the grove of T. D. 
Feister on Kramer Island. We found 
plantings of Trapps and Pollocks at these 
places. At that time they were very 
small, but at this time have attained a 
wonderful size for their age. The trees 
on the Forbes plantation, that are two 
and one-half years old are eight to nine 
feet in height and have set a crop of fruit 
of about a box to the tree. And the trees 
in the Feister grove, which were four 
years old last September, are eighteen and 
twenty feet high, and are carrying a crop 
of seven or eight boxes to the tree. The 
trees have been given no fertilizer. 
Physical development in the Glades is 
in a pioneer stage. Transportation is 
very slow and uncertain. The cost of 
developing and handling fruit is high, but 
the prospects are bright, as a railroad is 
being constructed from Moore Haven to 
Sandy Point; there is talk of a bond issue 
of $350,000, for a good road from West 
Palm Beach to the south side of the lake 
and on towards Ft. Myers. 
During the spring of 1920, we made 
some purchases at the Sewell plantation. 
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