﻿APRIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 1917. 35 



44625 to 44628— Continued. 



flesh is of excellent appearance and flavor. The seed is medium sized. 

 Taken all around, this seems a very promising variety, especially for 

 Florida, where many of the Guatemalan avocados do not bear heavily. 



" The parent tree is growing in the finca La Polvora in Antigua, 

 Guatemala. The altitude is approximately 5,100 feet. On all sides of 

 .the tree, and crowding it somewhat, are large coffee bushes. The soil 

 is a rich, sandy loam of volcanic origin, deep and friable. The tree 

 is probably 6 or 7 years old. It is 20 feet in height, very slender in 

 habit, the trunk 6 inches through at the base, branching at 8 feet from 

 the ground. The crown is slender, sparsely branched, with very little 

 fruiting wood. Its growth seems to be reasonably vigorous, the young 

 branchlets being stout, though very short. The wood is rather brittle. 

 The bud wood furnished by this tree is rather poor, owing to the 

 shortness of the growths and the fact that the buds are too closely 

 crowded together. The eyes, however, are well formed and show no 

 tendency to drop and leave a blind bud. It may be found that the tree 

 will require training when young to keep it stocky and of good form. 



" The hardiness of the variety can not be ascertained at present, 

 since the climate of Antigua is not cold. It may be assumed, until a 

 test is made in the United States, that it is about as hardy as the aver- 

 age of the Guatemalan race. 



" The tree did not flower in 1917, owing, quite likely, to the heavy 

 crop which it ripened from the 1916 blooms. Probably under better 

 cultural conditions and by thinning heavy crops greater regularity in 

 bearing can be induced ; in Guatemala, where no cultural attention is 

 given to the trees, it is common for them to bear very heavily one 

 season and fail to bear the next. Judging by the appearance of the 

 spring flush of growth, which always accompanies the flowers, the 

 variety will flower here in March. The fruits ripen from March to 

 May. Although the tree has very little fruiting wood, it produced 

 125 fruits in 1917, which can be considered a very heavy crop. Several 

 of the branches, in fact, were broken by the weight of the fruits they 

 were carrying. 



" The form of the fruit, as already mentioned, is practically the 

 same as that of the Trapp — oblate or roundish oblate. The average 

 weight is 12 to 16' ounces, but it may be expected that the weight of 

 this and all other varieties in the collection will be slightly greater 

 under good culture in the United States than it is in Guatemala, 

 where the trees receive no attention. The skin is rather thin and 

 smooth on the surface. The color is a deep purple, almost black. 

 Unlike most Guatemalan avocados, the surface possesses a decided 

 glossiness. The flesh is rich yellow in color, free from discoloration 

 or fiber, and of very rich flavor. The seed varies from small to slightly 

 large. In this connection it may be noted that the seeds of round or 

 oblate avocados frequently are found to vary considerably in size, 

 even among the fruits of a single tree. In this particular variety the 

 average is not large, but occasional fruits were found in which the 

 seed was a trifle too large. In others it is comparatively small. It is 

 always tight in the cavity. 



" The following is a formal description of the fruit : Form roundish 

 oblate or oblate ; size medium to above medium ; weight 12 to 15 

 ounces, length 3^ inches ; greatest breadth 3| to 3| inches ; base rounded, 



