34 MISC. PUBLICATION 650, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
Ecuador 
Statements are made that pyrethrum was not grown in Ecuador 
prior to 1940.% At that time, samples of seed were secured and. 
planted on the grounds of the agricultural experiment stations at 
Alausi and Ambato at elevations of 2,333 and 2,555 meters, respec- 
tively. The plants grew satisfactorily, and flowers from Alausf 
analyzed 1.1 percent total pyrethrins. In 1943, about 60 acres were 
planted for commercial production in response to encouragement and 
assistance by the Estacién Experimental Agricola del Ecuador. 
Additional experimental plantings were established at Patate, Ibarra, 
Pelileo, Pillaro, Quito, Calacali, Aloag, Riobamba, Otavalo, Cayambe, 
Latacunga, Salcedo, Chambo, and Tunchi. 
Central America 
Pyrethrum has been grown experimentally in Costa Rica, El Sal- 
vador, and Guatemala, but not until 1944 was an effort made to 
cultivate the crop on a commercial! scale. In that year Stephen 
White of the United States Board of Economic Warfare distributed 
seedlings to 10 plantation ewners in Guatemala. By December 1945, 
about 105 acres were ty. production. Yield data taken on 19 acres of 
four farms during the first year of production indicated an average of 
389 pounds per acre. The first commercial shipments made in 1945 
assayed 0.83 to 0.89 percent pyrethrins after 9 months of storage. but 
analysis of flowers taken from all pyrethrum fields in Guatemala 
showed a range in total pyrethrin content of 0.79 to 2.13 percent and 
an average of 1.22 percent. Altitudes at which the crop is grown vary 
from 5,000 feet near Antigua to 8,500 feet near Palestina. 
Other pyrethrum- producing farms are located near Chicacao, at 
7,200 feet; Tecpdin, at 7,500 feet; Fraijanes at 6,000 feet; Quezal- 
tenango at 8,009 feet; and Amatitlan, at 5,500 feet. At the present 
time the Instituto Agropecuario Nacional is engaged in making selec- 
tions of superior strains for Guatemala. Most Guatemalan pyrethrum 
is sun- or stove-dried, but one grower at Tecpaén began in 1946 to use 
infrared lamps after preliminary sun drying. 
Haiti 
Haiti has become the most recent exporter of pyrethrum flowers 
in the Western Hemisphere. With the assistance of the United States 
Foreign Economic Administration, trial plantings were begun in 1942 
at Haitian agricultural experiment stations at Savanne Zombie and 
Oriani at altitudes of 4,500 and 5,000 feet. In 1945, United States 
private imterests in pooper ation with the Haitian-American Develop- 
ment Corp. established a trial planting of special Tennessee varieties 
at Gros Cheval, 5,025 feet in altitude. Experimental plantings at 
Oriani produced flowers assaying 1.2 percent pyrethrin content. In 
1945, commercial planting was begun, and a year later the first exports, 
totaling 1,268 pounds, were made to the United States. 
14 CULBERTSON, R. E. PYRETHRUMIN ECUADOR. Rpt. to O. F. A. R., 9 pp., 
illus. In. p.| Jan. 7, 1944. [Hectographed; filed in T. C. B., O. F. A. R.! 
© WHITE, STEPHEN S. PYRETHRUM PRODUCTION IN GUATEMALA. Rpt. to U.S 35 | 
Com. Co. 24 pp., illus. In. v.] [n. d.] [Hectographed; filed in T. C. B., O. F. A. R.j | 
