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



avocados were the size of marbles, and many trees cast their fruit. 

 It seems quite probable that irrigation at this time would have 

 saved the crop. In another case a crop was lost through the attacks 

 of some insect when the fruits were about one-third grown. In 

 many instances trees are allowed to overbear one season, crop fail- 

 ures the following year being the natural result. 



Doubtless much can be clone in the United States to control this 

 matter. The most important thing, however, is to plant a variety 

 which bears fairly regularly. There is certainly a wide range of 

 variation in this respect. 



YIELD. 



Very large trees of the smaller varieties, whose fruits weigh 6 to 8 

 ounces, produce as many as 3,000 fruits in a single crop. Larger 

 varieties, whose fruits are 18 ounces in weight, may produce as many 

 as 1,000 fruits provided the tree is of mature size. A few examples 

 of good production may be cited to illustrate what can be expected 

 of Guatemalan varieties. A young tree in Amatitlan, not over 20 

 feet high, produced in 1916 a crop of 125 fruits, each weighing 16 

 to 18 ounces. In 1917 this tree produced double the number. A 

 young tree in Antigua, scarcely 20 feet high, very slender, and with 

 little fruiting wood, produced 300 fruits weighing 8 to 12 ounces 

 each. Another young tree in Antigua, about 25 feet high, produced 

 100 fruits weighing 20 ounces each. This also was a very slender 

 tree with little fruiting wood. Another, 35 feet high, with a broad 

 well-branched crown, produced 300 fruits, each weighing 14 to 16 

 ounces. 



These trees are not branched close to the ground, as they would be 

 grown in the United States, and hence have much less fruiting wood 

 than trees of similar height in a California or Florida orchard. 

 They are commonly branched about 10 feet from the ground. A 

 count of numerous trees ranging from 30 to 40 feet in height, which 

 is about the average size for trees 15 to 25 years old, showed that 

 they were producing from 50 to 500 fruits each (PL VII). The 

 average was about 200 or 250 and the average size from 12 to 14 

 ounces. This can be considered a very satisfactory yield, consider- 

 ing the small amount of fruiting wood which these trees possess. 



Most of the Guatemalan avocados produce their fruits singly, but 

 there are occasional trees which have clusters of two to five fruits. 

 No very large varieties have been observed to fruit in clusters, but 

 the small and medium-sized ones, whose fruits are from 6 to 15 

 ounces in weight, occasionally do so. 



SEASON. 



It has been remarked by travelers that avocados are present in 

 the markets of the city of Guatemala every month in the year (PI. 

 VIII). This observation, accurate enough in itself, has led to the 



