THE AVOCADO 25 



avocados as well. Experimental plantings in the Imperial 

 and Coachella Valleys have up to the present served only to 

 indicate that the atmosphere of these regions is too dry. The 

 leaves turn brown and fall off, no matter how much water is 

 applied at the root. 



As a guide to planters in regions where the avocado has not 

 been tested, it may be said that experience has shown the 

 Guatemalan race to be about as hardy as the lemon. Certain 

 kinds probably are hardier than that, while others are known 

 to be more tender. The Mexican race, in its hardier varieties, 

 withstands a little more frost than the orange. The West 

 Indian race is distinctly more tender than either the Guatemalan 

 or Mexican. 



W. J. Krome's experience at Homestead, Florida, leads him 

 to say : " As a general rule West Indian avocados, beyond one 

 year old, will not be damaged by a temperature of 32 unless 

 that temperature holds for a longer period than two or three 

 hours. When four or five years old they will stand 26 or 27 

 without injury, except to tender growth, but below that tem- 

 perature there is likely to be considerable damage. At 22 

 five-year-old Trapp trees were killed back to wood one inch in 

 diameter. At a temperature somewhere between 22 and 24 

 Guatemalans have, with a few exceptions, shown almost no 

 damage beyond a slight singeing of the leaves." 



In the Report of the California Avocado Association for 

 1917, H. J. Webber publishes the following summary of the 

 effect of different temperatures on avocado trees in California 

 in the cold weather of the winter of 1916-1917 : 



"30 F. Nothing injured so far as could be observed. 



" 29 F. No injury of account ; only traces on most tender growth 

 of West Indian and Guatemalan varieties. 



"28F. New foliage scorched on Guatemalan types; West 

 Indian varieties showing considerable damage. 



" 27 F. Mexican varieties with new tips slightly scorched ; Guate- 

 malan with almost all new foliage injured ; West Indian badly damaged. 



