278 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



described for the avocado and mango. The bud wood should 

 be so far mature that the green color shall have disappeared 

 from the bark. The buds should be cut 1 to 1 J inches long. 



Patch-budding has been successful in California when large 

 stock-plants have been used. They should have stems 1 inch 

 in diameter, and the buds should be cut 1| inches in length, 

 square or oblong in form. Propagation by cuttings is also 

 possible if half-ripened wood is used and bottom-heat is avail- 

 able. 



A simple method of propagation, which may be employed 

 when it is desired to obtain a limited number of plants from 

 a bush producing fruits of particularly choice quality, is as 

 follows : With a sharp spade cut into the soil two or three 

 feet from the tree, severing the roots which extend outward 

 from the trunk. Sprouts will soon make then- appearance. 

 When they are of suitable size they may be transplanted to 

 permanent positions. They will, of course, reproduce the 

 parent variety as faithfully as a bud or graft. 



The guava is a heavy bearer and ripens its fruit during a long 

 season. In some regions guavas are obtainable throughout 

 the year, though not always in large quantities. Seedlings come 

 into bearing at three or four years of age ; budded plants may 

 bear fruit the second year after they are planted in the orchard. 

 Indian horticulturists state that the plants bear heavily for 

 fifteen to twenty-five years, and thereafter gradually decline in 

 production. The guava is not a long-lived plant, but may 

 live and bear fruit for forty years or more. The season of 

 ripening in India is November to January ; in Florida and the 

 West Indies it is in late summer and autumn. 



The guava is subject to the attacks of numerous insect and 

 fungous enemies. The list of scale insects injurious to it is a 

 particularly long one, including numerous species belonging 

 to the genera Aspidiotus, Ceroplastes, Icerya, Pseudococcus, 

 Pulvinaria, and Saissetia. All of these can be held in check by 



