THE AVOCADO IN GUATEMALA. 17 



the ground (PL VI), and the lowest limbs in the crown are far out 

 of reach. Where high winds are unknown, as in Guatemala, this 

 method is not disadvantageous except that it reduces greatly the 

 amount of fruiting wood and makes it somewhat difficult to pick 

 the fruit. Even when not grown in coffee plantations the trees 

 usually are encouraged to branch high, the crown being formed at 

 least 6 or 8 feet above the ground. 



During the dry season, which is long and severe in Antigua and 

 several other regions, the trees are not irrigated. Yet they do not 

 often show the effects of drought. Apparently the soil in Antigua 

 is retentive of moisture, though toward the end of April orange trees 

 in Antigua gardens often turn yellow and wilt from lack of water, 

 while avocados in the same garden appear in perfect condition. 

 This is not saying, of course, that avocado trees in the United States 

 (or in Guatemala, for that matter) should not be abundantly irrigated 

 during the dry season, for experience indicates that they should. 



In Alta Vera Paz the climate is exceedingly moist, the rainfall 

 exceeding 100 inches in some sections, distributed over 10 or 11 

 months of the year. The avocado seems perfectly at home in such 

 a climate. Evidently it is able to stand extremes of moisture or 

 drought without suffering. 



As to the effect of unfavorable conditions upon fruit production, 

 trees growing by the roadside or in waste places are often very pro- 

 ductive, but their fruit is never as large as that from trees grown in 

 the more favorable environment of the coffee plantations and the 

 dooryards of the natives. Half-wild trees nearly always produce 

 small fruits containing very large seeds. Often these fruits are so 

 inferior that the natives do not even pick them. 



REGULARITY OF BEARING. 



Practically all Guatemalan avocado growers admit that the trees 

 do not bear regularly; that is, a good crop is not produced every 

 year. It is generally considered that a heavy crop will be followed 

 by a light one or even by a crop failure, but no rule can be laid 

 down which will apply to all trees. Individual trees differ in regu- 

 larity of bearing. Some have been seen which bore a heavy crop one 

 year and nothing the next; others which bore a heavy crop one 

 year and an equally heavy one the next. While it may perhaps be 

 stated as a general principle that a heavy crop will usually be fol- 

 lowed by a lighter one, the question must be studied from the 

 standpoint of each particular variety. 



Irregularity in bearing is doubtless encouraged in Guatemala by 



the failure to practice thinning when an unusually heavy crop is 



produced and by inattention to cultural details. In the spring 



of 1917 there was a prolonged dry spell at the time when the young 



79774°— 19— Bull. 743 2 



