FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
115 
illustrate, Mr. Cellon has in his nursery 
rows a large number of young trees that 
are holding some fruit every season. For 
the past two or three seasons, he has had 
sale for all his fruit at home, at from 50 
to 75 cents and sometimes reaching $1.00 
each, the parties driving to his place two 
and one-half males from the city for 
them. This was the price unpacked and 
unwrapped at his door. Mr. S. B. Bliss, 
who owns the largest 'budded Avocado 
grove in the world, sold his Trapps this 
season at from $12.00 to $17.00 per crate 
of four dozen f. o. b. and did-not have 
nearly enough to supply the demand. Mr. 
W. E. March, who was among the first to 
plant the Trapp disposes of his fruit to 
Hicks & Son, New York, for which lie re¬ 
ceives fabulous prices with a constant cry 
for more Avocados. Dr. Wetzel, of Co- 
coanut Grove, informed Mr. March that 
he received instructions to bill his Trapps 
out at one dollar each. Among the other 
{valuable varieties grown here are the 
Pollock, which was originated by Mr. S. 
H. Pollock, of this city. Many of this 
variety weigh two and one-half pounds 
and some specimens have weighed three 
pounds. The fruit matures from July to 
October. The Rico, originated by Capt. 
C. J. Rose, Cocoanut Grove, season from 
August to November. The Blackman, or¬ 
iginated by the writer. Samples of this 
fruit were sent to the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment, Washington, D. C., and after a 
thorough test were pronounced the best 
Avocado ever tested by the department 
and was named after the originator. 
Season from November to December. 
SOILS. 
The Avocado will thrive well on any 
well drained soil, whether it be sand or 
rock. Those who are anticipating planting 
Avocados should remember this and not 
plant on low, wet ground. In the vicinity 
of Miami, the commercial orchards are 
planted on the rocky lands. 
FERTILIZING. 
The Avocado is a gross feeder and will 
utilize almost any kind of fertilizer manu¬ 
factured, cotton seed meal or stable ma¬ 
nure. On the rocky lands which are lack¬ 
ing in humus, perhaps well rotted stable 
manure is preferable, but this cannot be 
procured in quantities sufficient for 
growing a commercial orchard. The na¬ 
tive people never used a fertilizer of any 
kind for their Avocado trees but experi¬ 
ments have demonstrated that a tree well 
fed and cultivated produces more and bet¬ 
ter fruit and of uniform size. We would 
emphasize the fact that the Avocado< tree 
revels in high fertilization and as before 
noted, does not seem particular as to the 
kind of fertilizer used or what it is com¬ 
posed of. Generally speaking, in the 
rocky soils of Dade County, cotton seed 
meal is not considered a safe fertilizer, 
but the Avocado thrives on it when used 
in quantities. 
MANGOES, 
(Mm 1 gifera In die a,) 
Mango trees were among the first fruit 
trees planted in this tropical section. The 
first settlers came from Cuba, Nassau 
and other islands bringing with them 
seed which they planted in profusion 
around their new possessions. It was 
found that the mango made a more rap¬ 
id growth, came into bearing earlier 
than on the islands, and that the fruit was 
