1103 



throughout this part of America. I have not yet ex- 

 perimented to see how the coyo tastes when prepared 

 in salads or seasoned with vinegar, salt and pepper, 

 but I have found it excellent when diced and eaten in 

 bouillon, as is often done with the avocado by Guate- 

 malans of the upper classes. To me its flavor is de- 

 cidedly agreeable, and a good coyo, free from fiber 

 and with a seed not too large in proportion to the 

 size of the fruit, would impress me as a worthy rival 

 of the avocado. 



"The tree grows under a variety of conditions. 

 In the valley of the Motagua river, near Zacapa and 

 El Rancho, it is found near the banks of streams. The 

 air in these regions is exceedingly hot and dry during 

 a large part of the year, the hillsides being covered 

 with typical desert vegetation, --cacti , euphorbiads, 

 and thorny leguminous shrubs and small trees. Con- 

 trasted with these conditions, the upper Polochic 

 valley, in the Alta Verapaz, where the coyo is ex- 

 ceedingly abundant, is a very moist region, with rain- 

 fall, --as the inhabitants state , --thirteen months in 

 the year. In this part of Guatemala I have seen coyos 

 at elevations well above 5000 feet. Like the Guate- 

 malan type of avocado, it is very abundant from 4000 

 to 5000 feet, but unlike the latter it seems also to 

 do very well at lower elevations, being found around 

 Zacapa at elevations of 500 feet above the sea, where 

 the Guatemalan type of avocado is usually replaced by 

 the West Indian. 



"Judging from its behavior in Guatemala, the coyo 

 ought to be successful in both California and Florida. 

 During the coming summer I hope to make a search for 

 superior trees and obtain budwood for introduction 

 into the United States. The season of ripening is 

 from June to August in the lowlands, and in August to 

 October or even November in the highlands. There are 

 thousands of trees in the Verapaz, and it should cer- 

 tainly be possible to find among them a few superior 

 ones, well worthy of propagation. 



"In the coyo we have a fruit new to North Ameri- 

 can horticulture, --so new, in fact, that it does not 

 even have a botanical name, --yet one which is grown 

 by the Indians of northern Guatemala as extensively 

 as the avocado, and apparently looked upon by them as 

 almost its equal. When good varieties have been ob- 

 tained, and propagated by budding, it seems reasonable 

 to expect that the coyo will find a place in the 

 orchards of the United States, throughout approxi- 

 mately the same belt in which the avocado is grown." 



