THE AVOCADO IN GUATEMALA. 11 



ORIGIN OF CHOICE VARIETIES OF THE PRESENT DAY. 



The splendid avocados of to-day are doubtless the product of 

 centuries of more or less unconscious selection on the part of the 

 Guatemalan Indians, just as the choice fiberless mangos of East 

 India have been produced through selection by the Hindus. In 

 the case of the mango, however, the Hindu has been enabled to 

 perpetuate an unusually choice variety by resorting to vegetative 

 propagation. This appears never to have been practiced in Guate- 

 mala; hence, when a choice avocado tree grows old and dies the 

 variety is lost. 



Because of the moist climate of Alta Vera Paz, an avocado seed 

 dropped by the roadside nearly always sprouts and develops into a 

 tree. This has led to the avocado being found in a semiwild state 

 throughout that region, often in the edge of the forest and at such 

 distance from any present habitation as to suggest that the species is 

 truly indigenous. The suspicion always arises, however, that a seed 

 may have been dropped by some passing Indian or that a hut may 

 have stood close to the spot at some past time. When going to work 

 in their clearings the Indians commonly carry avocados with them 

 as part of their noonday lunch. The seeds of these fruits, cast aside 

 wherever the Indian chances to be at midday, give rise to many 

 avocado trees in little-frequented places. 



Though a careful search was made in the most promising sections 

 of Alta Vera Paz for the wild avocado, no trees were found which 

 it was felt could safely be considered indigenous. The primitive, 

 half-wild forms so commonly seen, however, can without doubt be 

 looked upon as the nearest approach to the wild species in so far as char- 

 acter of fruit is concerned, and a comparison of these forms with the 

 choicest varieties in cultivation brings out some striking differences. 



These half -wild avocados of Alta Vera Paz (PI. Ill) are nearly 

 always round, small in size, with a hard, thick outer covering and 

 a very large seed, leaving little flesh. The smallest are no larger than 

 walnuts. Most of them are little more than 2 inches in diameter. 

 The shell — for it can be called such — is either green or purple and 

 rough externally; in texture it is so hard and brittle that it breaks 

 irregularly when an attempt is made to cut it. Occasionally it is as 

 much as a quarter of an inch thick. The flesh is of good quality, but 

 the quantity is very small. The seed is tight in the cavity, with the 

 cotyledons smooth and the thin seed coats adhering closely. The fact 

 that nearly all of these fruits are round would indicate that this can 

 be considered the primitive shape, the pyriform and elongated 

 avocados being found in cultivation. 



When such fruits as these are contrasted with the splendid varieties 

 of the Antiguan fincas, for example, the development which has 



