14 BULLETIN 743, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



lished, the Indian is loath to destroy it; hence, many new trees are 

 started each year. It appears that comparatively few avocados are 

 intentionally planted by the Indians, most of the trees being volun- 

 teers. 



SOILS. 



The principal avocado districts of the highlands differ consid- 

 erably in their soil types. Clays, alluvial loams, and loose soils of 

 volcanic origin are most common. 



Alta Vera Paz is a limestone region in which most of the soils 

 are clays or clay loams of reddish, tawny, or blackish color. When 

 wet many of these soils have an almost greasy consistency. They 

 are usually of considerable depth. In the Valley of San Cristobal, 

 the most important avocado center in northern Guatemala, blackish 

 clays predominate. In many spots there is a surface deposit of rich 

 loam washed off the hillsides. 



The clay soils of Vera Paz seem to produce a large and long- 

 lived tree (PI. IV). In no other part of Guatemala were larger 

 avocados seen than in the vicinity of Coban and San Cristobal. If 

 not well drained these soils would be objectionable, but Vera Paz 

 is of such rough, rugged contour that it is rare to find an avocado 

 standing on level ground. 



Typical alluvial loam occurs at Panajachel, on the border of Lake 

 Atitlan. This town lies at the mouth of a small valley, scarcely 

 more than half a mile broad, with the mountains rising abruptly on 

 both sides. When viewed from above, it can plainly be seen that 

 the sediment carried down this valley is gradually building a delta 

 in the lake. Most of the gardens which contain avocado trees are 

 situated about half a mile up the valley from the present shore of 

 the lake. The valley floor at this point is level, the soil varying from 

 a fine black alluvium to gravelly loam, most of the cultivated area 

 possessing rich black loam, easily worked and well adapted to the 

 growing of truck crops and coffee, for which it is used. The 

 avocado succeeds excellently here. 



At Momostenango, north of the city of Quezaltenango, a curious 

 mixture of red clay and volcanic tufa is encountered. Large masses 

 of tufa, many feet in depth, are frequently exposed by erosion. 



In the Antigua district the soil is more uniform in character than 

 in many other sections of Guatemala. It is a loose, black, sandy loam 

 of volcanic origin, mixed with alluvium and becoming a true loam on 

 the valley floor, while on the slopes it is often so loose and coarse in 

 texture as to suggest cinders. In most of the coffee plantations the 

 soil seems to be of uniform character to a considerable depth. It is 

 easily worked, fertile, and from several points of view an admirable 

 avocado soil. Even at the end of the long dry season it is found to 

 be moist a short distance below the surface, and it never becomes hard 



