114 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
only at periods covering several years, 
there are varieties or kinds of tropical 
fruit trees which I would plant for family 
use, taking every precaution in case of 
cold to protect them. The four kinds I 
especially call attention to is the Avocado, 
Mango, and Paw-paw and Bananas, four 
of the most valuable fruits known to hor¬ 
ticulturists, not only for the family table, 
but commercially, the commercial orchard 1 
being of the greatest moment. 
WHERE GROWN. 
Dade County and the Florida Keys, 
so far as I know are the only places wnere 
these fruits are grown commercially, in 
the State. In this I may be mistaken as I 
am not familiar with the country on the 
southwestern coast of Florida and the 
adaptability of either soils or climate for 
the production of these fruits on a com¬ 
mercial scale. If I am wrong it is an er¬ 
ror of ignorance, not willfulness. 
THE AVOCADO. 
( P.gratiasima .) 
Thirteen years ago when I came to 
Dade County, the Avocado was found 
growing luxuriantly around the homes 
of the early settlers in the rocky lands 
and in the sand lands in the northern por¬ 
tion of the county. The fruit was then 
unknown in the northern markets but 
was highly esteemed by the native popu¬ 
lation for food. We have heard it said that 
many of the natives made their breakfast 
entirely upon the Avocado, accompanied 
with a small piece of bread and a cup of 
coffee. It is claimed that it contains a 
larger amount of nourishment, than any 
other fruit known. As people came in 
from the North, they soon became as fond 
of the Avocado as the natives and each 
settler proceeded to plant a few seeds, to 
produce fruit for home use. Trial ship¬ 
ments were made to northern cities, es¬ 
pecially to those which had a large Latin¬ 
speaking population and it was soon 
found that there was a good demand' for 
the fruit and each year the demand has 
increased. The great difficulty found in 
marketing the Avocado, was, that the 
trees were all seedlings and while the 
great majority of fruit was good and 
could be classed as better, best, (none 
poor) there were no two 'trees which 
grew exactly the same kind of fruit, in 
size, color and value for eating purposes. 
The more advanced horticulturists rec¬ 
ognized the fact, that in a great measure 
the seedling Avocado was like the seed¬ 
ling orange or apple and efforts were be¬ 
gun to produce “known varieties.’’ An¬ 
other difficulty the pioneer had to en¬ 
counter was that the maturing season did 
not cover sufficient time to make growing 
the Avacado, a commercial success. Mr. 
George B. Cellon, of Miami, who owns 
the only purely tropical nursery in the 
State, has the honor of discovering and 
propagating in large quantities, an Avo¬ 
cado known as the “Trapp.” The original 
tree was found on the Trapp place at 
Cocoanut Grove. The distinctive value 
of the Trapp, is that it ripens late in the 
season. This year a few specimens were 
exhibited at the Dade County Fair in 
March. This makes the Trapp the most 
valuable Avocado grown and the only 
variety that has been known to hold its 
fruit so late in the season. The prices re¬ 
ceived for the Trapp from December to 
the last of February are almost prohibi¬ 
tive to persons of ordinary means. To 
