﻿66 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



44781 to 44783— Continued. 



oblate, medium sized, varying from 1 to 2 ounces in weight, tight in 

 the cavity, with both seed coats adhering closely to the cotyledons." 



See also Exploring Guatemala for Desirable New Avocados, Annual 

 Report of the California Avocado Association, 1917, p. 134, fig. 30; 

 reprint, 1918, p. 26, fig. 30 ; and The Avocado in Guatemala, U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture Bulletin No. 743, p. 62, pi. 21. 

 44783. "(Nos. 122, 143. Avocatlo No. 28.) Cantel. The parent tree of 

 this variety is just coming into bearing and produced but few fruits 

 in 1917. While it is too early to know definitely what its bearing habits 

 will be, the character of the fruit is so unusual as to make it worth 

 while to test the variety in the United States. Most round avocados 

 have a medium-sized or large seed. This one, however, has an un- 

 usually small seed, and if the variety proves desirable in other respects 

 it will be well worth cultivating. In quality it is good. 



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

 Guatemala. The altitude is approximately 5,100 feet. The tree has 

 been planted to shade coffee bushes and is still young, its age not be- 

 ing more than 5 or 6 years. It is tall and slender in habit, about 20 

 feet high, with a trunk 6 inches thick at the base. As is customary in 

 fincas, the tree has not been allowed to branch low, the first branches 

 being more than 6 feet from the ground. The growth looks unusually 

 strong and healthy, the young branchlets being stout, long, stiff, and 

 well formed. The bud wood is excellent, having the buds well placed 

 and vigorous. 



" Little can be determined regarding the flowering and fruiting habits 

 of the tree at this early day. AVhen it was first seen, early in May, 

 1917, it had only three fruits on it. It may have borne more this year, 

 as the crop had already been harvested from many of the trees in the 

 finca. The ripening season is probably March to May. 



" The hardiness of the tree can not be determined until it is tested 

 in the United States, as it is never very cold in Antigua. 



" The fruit is round, about a pound in weight, green, with a moder- 

 ately thick skin. The flesh is of good color and quality and in quan- 

 tity much greater than in the average round avocado, since the seed 

 is quite small. 



" The variety may be described as follows : Form oblate ; size 

 medium, weight 16 ounces, length 3£ inches, breadth 3| inches ; base 

 slightly flattened, the long, slender stem inserted without depression 

 almost in the longitudinal center of the fruit; apex flattened, slightly 

 depressed around the stigmatic point ; surface pebbled, deep yellow- 

 green in color, with numerous minute yellowish dots; skin not very 

 thick for this race, one-sixteenth of an inch or slightly more, hard, 

 granular toward the flesh; flesh cream colored around the seed, 

 becoming pale green close to the skin, very slightly discolored, with 

 brownish fiber tracings, but with no fiber ; flavor rich and pleasant ; 

 quality very good ; seed very small for a round fruit, oblate, weighing 

 less than 1 ounce, tight in the cavity, with both seed coats adhering 

 closely to the cotyledons." 



See also Exploring Guatemala for Desirable New Avocados, Annual 

 Report of the California Avocado Association, 1917, p. 135, fig. 31; 

 reprint, 1918, p. 26, fig. 31 ; and The Avocado in Guatemala, U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture Bulletin No. 743, p. 63. 



