38 



ANNUAL REPORT 1919 AND 1920 



from Mexico good varieties of the Mexican race which will give us two crops of 

 fruit during the year. 



The season for Guatemalans in Atlixco is October to March. That is to 

 say, the fruits are picked during this period. I greatly doubt if many of those 

 gathered in October are mature. There is a decided tendency to rush the fruits 

 to market as soon as they are full grown, because of the danger from fruit-thieves. 

 Many of the growers complained bitterly to me of their inability to harvest their 

 own crops. **Todo el mundo es dueno ahord" ("Anybody and everybody is the 

 proprietor nowadays") one old orchardist kept repeating during the morning I 

 spent with him in his huertas. Thieves were always troublesome in this region, 

 but since the revolution their numbers have multiplied and their audacity is un- 

 limited. 



Comparing the ripening season with that in California, I beHeve it to be, 

 on the whole, about two months earlier. This is more than can be accounted for by 

 the elevation of Atlixco. As explained in my paper on the avocados of Guate- 

 mala, the ripening season in California corresponds to that at elevations of 6,000 

 to 7,000 feet in tropical America, while the season in Florida corresponds to 

 3,000 to 4,000 feet in tropical America. Atlixco lies at an elevation of 6,000 

 feet, and should, therefore, have practically the same season as California. The 

 difference of two months is probably due to the sheltered position of Atlixco, and 

 the consequent warmth of this climate. The town is protected on the north by 

 high mountains, and lies at the upper end of a broad valley which falls away 

 toward the south. 



I would expect a variety whose season in Atlixco is January to March to 

 ripen in California from March to May. In stating that its season in Atlixco is 

 January to March, however, I imply that these are the months during which 

 fully mature fruit can be picked, and not necessarily the ones in which the Atlix- 

 cans would harvest the crop. 



THE CROP: PICKING AND MARKETING 

 The difficult question of determining when an avocado is sufficiently mature 

 for picking seems to have been given little attention in Atlixco. I do not find 

 that the rule followed in Guatemala is obsers'ed here. This rule is to the effect 

 that the fruit can be gathered when the tree comes into flower, and in any event 

 would probably apply only to avocados of the Guatemalan race. 



Purple- fruited varieties are commonly considered to be mature when the 

 color begins to change from green to purple. In respect to green-fruited varieties, 

 I have not found that the growers have any accurate means of determining when 

 they are mature, in spite of the fact that several have asserted to me that they did. 

 They probably know in what month they are accustomed to pick the fruit from 

 their various trees ; but if shown a new variety and asked to state whether or not 

 the fruit was mature, I believe they would be unable to do so. 



Vicente Suarez, an old Indian who owns several huertas, was assuring me 

 that he not only could tell just when a fruit was mature, but he could also tell 

 by looking at it just what its quality was, and how large a seed it contained. I 

 happened to hold a small avocado in my hand. "For example," I asked him, 

 "What will be the quaHty of this fruit, and how large its seed?" He gravely 

 examined it, pointed out several small brown dots which he intimated were infal- 

 lible indications of something or other, and then replied: "It is of excellent qual- 

 ity, and has a very small seed." I took it home and cut it, to find that the seed 

 was so large there was scarcely any space left for flesh. What there was of 

 the latter was rich and of fine flavor, but I later learned that my assistant had 



