CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



39 



privately passed the word to old Vicente that the fruit had been given me by a 

 friend who recommended it as of unusually fine quality. 



In picking avocados, some of the Athxcans employ more intelligence than is 



generally used in this connection in tropical America. They do not knock them 

 off the trees and allow them to fall to the ground, but pick them with an apparatus 

 which removes them carefully and catches them in a small basket or sack. This 

 is a fruit-picker similar to those used in the United States, consisting of a hook or 

 knife attached to the end of a bamboo pole, with a small wire basket or cloth sack 

 so arranged as to catch the fruit when it is cut or pulled from the tree. The use 

 of this apparatus has probably been encouraged by the high prices obtained for 

 large Guatemalan avocados. In Guatemala, where avocados rarely bring 50 

 cents a hundred, the grower can scarcely be blamed for picking them in the 

 easiest manner possible, but here, where a good one is worth 1 or 15 cents, 

 the orchardist realizes that every one lost means 1 or 1 5 cents less in his pocket. 

 It seems to be understood by all that an avocado is badly bruised if allowed to 

 fall to the ground from a high tree, and that a bruised fruit will not ripen per- 

 fectly, nor keep well in the market. Without this understanding, of course, there 

 would be no incentive to careful handling. Not all of the growers use this method 

 of picking, and I do not believe it is employed by any of them except in connec- 

 tion with the Guatemalan race. 



For shipment to Puebla, Mexico City, Veracruz, and other points in the 

 Republic the fruits are packed immediately after picking in boxes or huacales, 

 the latter being crates made of small round sticks. Usually no packing material 

 is employed, but when it is desired to pack with especial care the fruits are 

 wrapped separately in paper. Sr. Fuentes, who formerly exported avocados from 

 this region to the United States, packed in large baskets, with abundant hay or 

 straw to prevent bruising ; but as no fruit is now being exported this method seems 

 to have fallen into disuse. The huacal is the commonest package. It usually 

 measures 2x2x2 feet, and the fruits are packed fairly tightly so they will not 

 shake about while in transit. 



After packing, the fruits require five to ten days to soften, and after soften- 

 ing can be kept on the market for several days before they spoil. When received 

 in the market they are examined and the soft ones picked out and placed on the 

 fruit stands for immediate sale. If not sold within five or six days they are lost. 

 If it is desired to hasten softening, the fruits are placed in a tight box with hay, 

 leaves, or a blanket over them; if, on the other hand, it is desired to retard ripen- 

 ing, they are kept in the open air, as cool as possible. 



Small fruits ("ahuacates de segunda clase," mostly of the Mexican race) 

 net the growers $1.50 to $3.00 per 100 at the orchard. The larger ones 

 ("ahuacates de primera," mostly of the Guatemalan race) net them $12.00 to 

 $15.00 per hundred, occasionally more. These prices are in Mexican currency, 

 on a gold basis. Much of the fruit produced in Atlixco is sold in the local 

 market at wholesale to buyers who come from Puebla, Mexico City, and other 

 points. 



THE CROP: CHARACTER OF THE FRUIT 



Comparing the fruits of the Guatemalan race produced in Atlixco with those 

 of Guatemala itself, I believe the Atlixcan varieties average somewhat larger in 

 size; are smoother on the surface; and have smaller seeds. In quality, I beheve 

 the average is about the same in both countries. 



Contrasting the extremes of each characteristic as they occur in these two 

 regions, we find that the largest fruits observed in Atlixco weigh only two pounds. 



