CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



77 



I remained in Guatemala nearly five months, but the last two were not very 

 profitable: not only was I overtaken by a red-hot Central American revolution, 

 but in addition I was confined to the hospital for nearly a month by an unfor- 

 tunate accident to one of my feet. Of what value, may I ask, is an agricultural 

 explorer without two feet? 



We had not planned, on this trip, to do much in the way of searching fof 

 new varieties in Guatemala. I had come to this country primarily to obtain a 

 large supply of pedigreed seed for use in connection with our experiments. At 

 Antigua I obtained this, and landed it safely in Washington. There were 

 seventeen lots in all, each representing a different avocado tree whose character 

 and location were carefully recorded. The original collection of Guatemalan 

 varieties, obtained in 1917 and 1918, is now being budded at Washington on 

 these different stock-plants. It is our belief that ultimately we will find certain 

 Guatemalan varieties to be more valuable for stocks than other varieties, and the 

 work now being carried on is the first step in this direction. I hope that some 

 day they will send me back to Guatemala to obtain a much more extensive col- 

 lection of pedigreed seeds; or if they don't send me for this purpose, that they will 

 send me for another. I hate to think of dying without seeing Guatemala once 

 more! 



While collecting these seeds in Antigua, I happened to find several choice 

 varieties which were not encountred on the first trip. It was precisely the wrong 

 season to cut and ship budwood (we have found, in Guatemala, that we can 

 only obtain good results when we do this work in April, May and June) ; but 

 I thought it worth an attempt, and sent buds of these varieties to Washington. I 

 believe there were four in all, and one of them. No. 40 in my collection, is a 

 most excellent fruit. Unfortunately,^ none of the budwood reached Washing- 

 ton in such condition that it could be saved. Perhaps we will have another 

 chance to get these varieties: I hope so. 



There are two very distinct phases of this work of avocado introduction: 

 the first is to obtain varieties of good quality and good commercial characteristics, 

 and the second is to see how they will behave in the United States. And I 

 have become convinced that the explorer in the field must confine himself to the 

 first phase, for he can form no accurate opinion respecting the second. My 

 Nimlioh, obtained in Antigua during the earlier Guatemalan explorations, looked 

 to me like a very weak grower, when I saw the parent tree, and I was not con- 

 fident regarding its ability to make a strong, healthy budded tree in the United 

 States. But I understand that it has shown itself, in Florida, to be one of the 

 most vigorous of the entire Guatemalan collection. And Chisoy, which appeared 

 to me in Guatemala to be a very strong tree, has proved to be so weak, when 

 propagated by budding in the United States, that it will doubtless have to be 

 discarded. 



TTherefore, I feel that the explorer should not attempt to judge a variety 

 except upon its productiveness, the character of its fruit, and the ripening season : 

 and in respect to the last named, I may say that he will find himself at sea in 

 many instances, for in some parts of the tropics the seasons of the year are not 

 well defined, and trees lose their normal periodicity. 



From Guatemala I passed through Salvador, which did not appear to me 

 to have anything of interest for us in so far as avocados are concerned, and went 

 to Costa Rica, where I remained about three months. The cultivated avocados 

 of this republic, practically all of them West Indians, are of little interest to 

 Californians. I sent in several for trial in Florida, and I learn that two of 



