THE AVOCADO IN" GUATEMALA. 15 



or cracks open, as the heavy clays do. It does not seem to produce 

 quite so large a tree as the clay soils of Alta Vera Paz. 



Everything considered, it seems that the clay loams or light clays 

 are best adapted to avocado culture. Other soils, however, give good 

 results. In the United States the avocado will succeed under a wide 

 range of soil conditions ; witness the excellent growth made in Flor- 

 ida on very sandy soils and in California on heavy clays of the adobe 

 type, heavier and more tenacious than any seen in Guatemala. 



GROWTH AND HABIT OF THE AVOCADO TREE. 



At elevations of 4,000 to 5,000 feet in Guatemala the growth of the 

 avocado tree is not so rapid as it is in California and Florida. This 

 is mainly due to the mildness of the climate ; there is none of the hot 

 summer weather which produces such rapid growth in the United 

 States. Another cause is the prevailing lack of cultural attention. 

 Naturally a tree which is manured regularly and irrigated when rain- 

 fall is lacking will make more rapid growth than one which is sup- 

 plied with an abundance of water during part of the year, is forced 

 to withstand a - long drought during the remainder, and never 

 receives manures or fertilizers in appreciable quantities. In Guate- 

 mala, it must be remembered, many avocados are not even planted in 

 favorable situations, but spring up from seeds cast aside by the 

 natives. Under these conditions the first few years are often a 

 severe struggle with the surrounding vegetation. 



Under the comparatively favorable conditions of coffee planta- 

 tions, the most trustworthy accounts place the bearing age of seed- 

 lings at six to eight years. In a few instances it was possible to verify 

 the age at which certain trees produced their first fruits; this was 

 never found to be less than 5 years and sometimes as much as 10. 

 Many large trees with no fruit may be seen in practically any district, 

 but these are trees that have borne in previous years. 



Many large trees in Guatemala still in profitable bearing are said 

 to be 50 or 60 years old. A 50-year-old tree seems to yield just as 

 good fruit as younger ones. Some avocado growers affirm that a 

 tree does not produce its best fruit until it is 20 or 25 years old. 



In habit of growth there are two types of trees, the slender, erect 

 type and the broad, spreading type, though there is no lack of inter- 

 mediate forms. 



, Most of the trees seen in Guatemala have straight trunks which do 

 not branch within 6 feet of the ground, and the crowns are broad, 

 dome shaped, and fairly dense. The erect, slender type of tree with 

 an open crown is less common except in Alta Vera Paz. The average 

 size of mature trees, those 15 to 25 years of age, as seen in coffee 

 plantations and gardens, is 30 to 40 feet in height, with a spread of 

 equal distance when the trees are of the broad, spreading type, or 



