Luke 13:6 And He began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.
7"And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?'
8"And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;
9and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"


I was struck by the similarity between this parable of Christ and the story of my grandfather's development of the Hass Avocado. Also struck me that Grandpa planted his grove in 1948, same year Israel became nation.

I wrote following article for Avocado Growers Association for their 50th anniversary last year.

HOW THE HASS AVOCADO CAME TO BE 
by Cindy Miller 2004

95% of avocados grown commercially are the Hass variety.  My mom, Faith (Hass) Wilkes knows how the Hass avocado came to be, so I will share it with you.

       Rudolph and Elizabeth (Schuette) Hass married in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1919.  They drove to Pasadena, California in 1923 in a used Model-T Ford bringing their firstborn, Betty, who was 16 months old. In 1925 Elizabeth gave birth to Donald, in 1928 my mother Faith, and in 1929 Rudy (Dan), followed by Charles in 1935.

Grandpa Hass got a job as a door-to-door salesman, first selling "Real Silk Hose," then Maytag washing machines.  Once he made a sales call on two spinster sisters who lived in a tiny home with a small porch.  They said they would love to have a washing machine, but had nowhere to put it. Grandpa asked them if they would buy a machine if he built them a place to put it.  They agreed and paid for the lumber and screen he used to enclose their small porch.  He won salesman of the year award that year!  In 1925 Grandpa Hass became a mailman in Pasadena at 25 cents per hour.  A stamp costs more than that now, but they were 3 cents then.  That was in the days before mail trucks.  He was a small man, but carried the heavy mail sack every day on his route for ten years until he was given a car route due to his failing heart. 

After reading a magazine article illustrating an Avocado Tree with dollar bills hanging from it, in 1925 Grandpa Rudy used all the money he had to buy a small acre and a half Fuerte avocado grove in La Habra. At 25 cents an hour he couldn't afford to buy more trees, so he bought Guatemalan avocado seeds from a nursery owned by Mr Rideout, and planted the rest of the grove on 12 foot centers with three seeds in each hole.  He hired a professional grafter named Mr. Caulkins to graft cuttings from the existing Fuerte trees onto the strongest of the three newly planted trees from each hole.  All but three "took". The next year Mr. Caulkins re-grafted  those three trees. The following year Mr. Caulkins re-grafted the one tree that had rejected the graft again. Again it did not take. Grandpa was ready to give up and chop the tree down, but Mr. Caulkins said it was a good strong tree.  He advised Grandpa to just let it grow and see what happens.  So he did.  The Hass avocado happened.  Grandpa Hass planted the seed, Mr. Caulkins did the grafting, and God gave the increase.  
       Grandpa patented the Hass Avocado in 1935 but, since it was the first patent ever issued on a tree, it got no respect. Growers would buy one tree from Mr. Brokaw who had the exclusive right to produce the nursery trees. They would then re-graft their whole grove with the bud wood from that one tree. For that reason, Rudolph Hass made less than $5,000 in royalties over the 17 year life of the patent. However, he was the first to have a producing grove of Hass Avocados, all be it, a very small grove. He found a ready market for the fruit at the Model Grocery Store in Pasadena, where the chefs for wealthy people who lived on South Orange Grove Street shopped. Once they sampled the Hass variety, they insisted on it.  My mom, her sister, and three brothers worked with Grandma and Grandpa harvesting and selling avocados from a roadside stand by the grove at 430 West Road in La Habra, California. 
Every Hass avocado tree today is descended from that original tree.  There is a plaque commemorating the location of the parent tree, but the tree died of root rot and was cut down on 9/11/2002 at the ripe old age of 76.  (It was planted in '26.)  That is very old for an avocado tree.  The wood from the tree is stored at the nursery run by Mr. Brokaw's nephew, Hank Brokaw. Some of the wood has been made into jewelry, gifts, and keepsakes by Mr. Hass's Nephew, Richard Stewart.  He gave them to members of the Hass family and some members of the Avocado Growers Association.

       Grandpa expanded to Fallbrook planting an 80 acre orchard in 1948 which bore its' first crop in 1952, just as Grandpa Hass died of heart failure in the Fallbrook Hospital.   However, Grandma Hass lived to the ripe old age of 98 after a lifetime of eating a half piece of wheat toast or waffle with avocado slices on it with breakfast just about every morning.

       Patents expire after 17 years. When Grandpa filed for his patent in 1935 he prayed and asked the Lord to let him live as long as the patent was good.  As a young man he had been rejected from military service in WWI because of a congenital heart condition.  He knew his ticker was not too good, yet he worked hauling those heavy mail sacks all those years.  He passed away in 1952, a few months after his 17 year patent on the Hass avocado expired.  Grandma Hass lived the rest of her life on the pension from Grandpa's mailman job.  Others saw the profit potential in the Hass avocado and have developed it into the industry it is today.  Now we all enjoy its fruit.
THE END

That is so cool Cindy! Thanks for sharing it with us. Peoples lives are so interesting. We have so few records of our Grandparents. And when the history is written down it tells a wonderful story. Well, especially if they know the Lord.

God knew all your Gandpa needed and has given it to him.

I love those avacodos. A salad isn't a salad without an avacodo...A Hass Avacado that is.

After 9/11 the fertilizer was dug in. With some trees it took. God has tarried. If your limbs won't yeild then spread your roots and allow yourself to be pruned.

Thank you, Miki. Was reading about God grafting Gentiles into Israel for salvation, and was thinking that relates to this parable, too. The Hass avocado is better than Guatemalan avocado of tree that grew from original seed, or the Fuente that was grafted into it. Perhaps this is why God 'grafted' gentiles into Israel. The 'fruit' that results is better than either one by itself.
Many other fruits also take three years before the tree begins to produce. I wonder what the significance of the three years is. Christ's ministry was three years. Tribulation period is split into two 3 1/2 year periods. Abraham to Christ and the fall of Jerusalem by Rome was 2000 years. Church Age's 'time of the gentiles' has also been 2000 years. In 1000 year Millennium both will thrive together under earthly reign of Christ. Then we will be perfected together and begin producing fruit in helping Christ create a new heaven and earth? Just speculation.

Blessings, Cindy

I'm glad you brought up grafting. I was thinking about what everybody has been talking about under other topics. About how we are nothing apart from Christ. We can do no good without God.

I was thinking about my own goodness and wondering if my rotten heart was hiding in there someplace...Then l was wondering if Christ in me...Holy Spirit in me...God in me...was the goodness l feel...Not mind....His..How great to sup with him as he allows us to experiance his goodness in us.

That's when l started to think about the grafting process and how the tree becomes totally one entity...It just merges. That's why we can feel Gods goodness Marcus and Ish...because we are gafted in. We experiance him as much as he wants us to.

In away the grafting process is our inheritence. We become one. Father, mother, brother, sister together. Who is my Mother? That's the total experiance...And you can have more...That's the excitement...You don't have to have an old dead prayer closet if you just believe he's really waiting for you to believe..

And how awesome to think the fruit is better when it's been grafted!

I appreciate your interaction on this topic, Miki. I need to meditate on this grafting. He must increase, I must decrease. The Lord is coming so soon. I keep wondering what I need to do to help prepare. I love to write, and so enjoy the interaction on sites like this one. But it seems in church and ministry the doors are closing. People don't want to hear that Lord's coming may be in very imminent future. They stop listening and accuse you of 'date setting' if you express doubt that He will tarry more than a few more years at most. People don't want God interferring with their plans. This concerns me greatly. I'm not very good at conveying the message without creating offense in person. I prefer writing. Guess God grafted me to write graphs.
Thank you for your input on this.
Blessings, Cindy

Can we have any good feelings of our own apart from Christ?

We have to look at the world to find that out. The answers easy. The real crux of the issue is..... do we love our enemy?

That's when we're all put to the test. Our enemies show us what's in us. We think we're doing so good till that one special someone comes along.
We aren't as good as we thought.

That's were we have to really tap into the sap from the tree. Other wise we become dead wood fit for the fire.

I have a camellia bush in my yard that was gafted by the previous owner. I'd forgotten it was grafted because it never bloomed. One year when the conditions were just right it bloomed. I was looking out the window and saw it. Pink and white! I had to go down and actually touch the small trunk but there was no sign at all that it had been grafted. It was one bush.

Miki,
You have a gift for hitting the nail on the head, don't you? I have to learn to communicate with people in person, not just on paper. This is spring. Time for growing now. The pruning was in the cold of winter. Need to come out of the cold and dark, out of the house, and out from behind the computer now. And, to be honest, it's time to accept the graft now. It hasn't been three years... It's been 30. Too much God has grafted into my life I've been resisting for too long.
Thank you for helping me see the light. Now that I've stumbled on the Truth, pray that I dust in my house, not myself off, and hurry where the Lord sends me, not away.
God Bless you, Miki. Thank you. ~ Cindy

Struck me that your camellias are white and pink on one bush. Graft did not alter their individual identity, just allowed them to grow together on single bush. Fruit is altered when grafted. Becomes different from combining of two types of tree. Have you ever tried pluots? Combo of plum and apricot, but is a larger, sweet, tangy, jucier plum.
Made me think of marriage. Two individuals retain own identity, but combined offspring is different combo of both. All four of my children are so different, yet unmistakable combo of us.
We are bride of Christ. 'Offspring' are combo of Christ, who gives life, and example we set as we disciple new believers in the church and in our walk. Sobering thought.
Blessings, Cindy

Great insight about the idividual identity... Mixing in this case is good!

God makes a good stew.