Avocados

An article (Nov. 26), “Avocados: a Tasty Way To Go Broke,” and a letter (Jan. 19), “No Mystery About Hass Avocado, His Son Says,” compels me to add the last word. Down to the nitty-gritty, we are.

My father, Bert Rideout of Whittier, was one of the pioneers in the avocado industry in California. It was from his nursery came the seedling Hass avocado. Quoting from The California Avocado Society Year Book, 1946:

“Many of the Lyon seedlings Bert Rideout scattered around the country were never budded. Many fruited in time to quite a high percentage of desirable fruits. From these we have the Hass.”

My father devoted his entire life to the new avocado industry, and I’m happy to see that the added publicity has finally focused on one of the many original varieties he introduced.

ALBERTA RIDEOUT JACOBS

Laguna Hills