THE AVOCADO IN GUATEMALA. 3 



Antigua, the former capital of Guatemala, which lies about 25 

 miles from the present capital, is the center of one of the leading 

 avocado regions, perhaps also one of the greatest in the world both 

 for quality and quantity of the fruit, though in quantity it soon will 

 be outclassed by the avocado districts of Florida and California. 



Antigua lies in a beautiful valley (PL II), whose floor is about 

 5,100 feet 1 above the level of the sea. It is protected on the north, 

 east, and west by towering volcanos and high hills, and to the south 

 there is an opening toward the ocean which permits warm breezes 

 to enter from the Pacific and keep the valley at a fairly equable tem- 

 perature throughout the year. The soil is of volcanic origin, deep, 

 friable, moist, and very fertile. Practically every foot of ground in 

 the valley is planted to some agricultural or horticultural crop. 

 Coffee is the principal commercial product, but maize and black 

 beans are grown extensively, and many fruits abound in the door- 

 yards of the inhabitants. Besides the avocado, there are oranges, 

 cherimoyas (called anonas in Guatemala), mombins or jocotes {Spon- 

 clias mombin L.), guavas, injertos (Achradelpha viridis O. F. Cook), 

 loquats, white sapotes or matasanos (Casimiroa edulis La Llave) , and 

 peaches. During the first six months of the year large quantities of 

 avocados are carried from the gardens and coffee fincas of Antigua 

 to the markets of the city of Guatemala. 



Another important center of avocado culture is Panajachel, on the 

 northern shore of Lake Atitlan, at an elevation of about 5,300 feet. 

 This town lies on an alluvial plain at the mouth of a small valley, 

 sheltered from cold winds off the highlands to the north by its posi- 

 tion at the foot of high bluffs. It grows much coffee and immense 

 quantities of onions, which are carried to all parts of the Republic 

 on the backs of Indians. Many avocado trees are scattered through 

 the coffee plantations and gardens of this little valley, and from 

 here the fruit is carried by the Indians to Solola, Quezaltenango, and 

 other towns of the highlands. 



Far to the north of the city of Guatemala, in the great Vera 

 Paz coffee district, lies the town of San Cristobal, situated on the 

 border of a small lake in a valley surrounded on all sides by high 

 hills. The elevation is about 4,500 feet, the climate being warm 

 and moist. Considerable numbers of avocado trees are found in the 

 dooryards and coffee plantations of San Cristobal. From here much 

 of the crop goes to Coban, which is the capital of the Department 

 of Alta Vera Paz and one of the principal cities of the Eepublic. 

 Some of the avocados of San Cristobal are among the very finest 

 in all Guatemala. 



1 The elevations given in this bulletin, with a few exceptions, were obtained with an 

 aneroid barometer of standard make. Frequent comparisons of barometer readings with 

 railway levels at some of the more important stations in Guatemala showed the former 

 to be dependable within a range of 100 feet. This is a sufficient degree of accuracy 

 for the practical purposes of this work. 



