38 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
able sign for the industry, and the demand 
for trees far exceeds the supply. 
Every home owner in Florida may have 
an avocado tree in his door yard if he so 
desires, and I heartily indorse the slogan 
of '‘Plant an avocado tree or seed” where 
it is possible to do so. The Mexican avo¬ 
cado is very hardy and will withstand the 
low temperatures in northern Florida if 
the tree can be brought up to three or four 
years without severe freeze injury. For 
home use, especially where the more ten¬ 
der varieties can not be grown, the Mexi¬ 
can type will serve every purpose. It is not 
desirable as a commercial fruit. The 
Guatemalan types can be grown in the cen¬ 
tral and southern parts of the State where 
the temperatures are not so low. This 
type will, no doubt, furnish us with our 
leading commercial varieties. The West 
Indian type will have to be confined to the 
southern part of the State as they are very 
susceptible to low temperatures. I will 
not attempt a discussion of the different 
varieties at this time as a great deal has 
already been written on this subject and 
we have much more yet to learn before 
the matter is finally settled. 
The critical period in the growing of 
an avocado tree is in its first few years 
of growth. If it can be protected from 
frosts or freezes until it has attained three 
or four years’ growth, I see no reason 
why a grove or planting could not then be 
carried through any ordinary freeze by 
some system of orchard heating. 
In addition to the avocado we have 
other sub-tropical fruits that in my opin¬ 
ion offer wide possibilities for develop¬ 
ment. We do not seem to have made as 
extensive use of some of the fruits we 
have in our midst as we might. As citrus 
culture has been developed and as we are 
developing the avocado, why not apply 
this to the mango, the guava, banana, pa¬ 
paya, Surinam cherry, carissa and other 
fruits we are now growing largely as nov¬ 
elties ? 
The increased production of these fruits 
may be considered from two view points: 
that of home use and commercial produc¬ 
tion. 
For the home we should make use of as 
many different fruits as possible and ar¬ 
range our plantings to have fruit the en¬ 
tire year. In many sections of Florida, 
especially the southern part of the State, 
this is possible. 
We should confine ourselves to the 
fruits that are adapted and do well under 
our particular climatic conditions, and, if 
we do this, there is generally a wide field 
to select from. 
I find that it is difficult for the new 
comer in our section, especially if he 
comes from Northern states, to forget his 
taste for northern fruits, and he will in¬ 
variably want to plant out many of the 
fruits he has been accustomed to. He 
wonders why peaches, pears, plums, ap¬ 
ples, cherries, gooseberries and the like 
will not grow as well in Lee county as they 
do back in Illinois, or some other state. 
Nature has seen to it that the northern 
and southern fruit growers will not come 
into direct competition with each other as 
far as the same commodities are con¬ 
cerned, and we can not always make a sat¬ 
isfactory change in the laws of nature. 
