CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



105 



United States. The success of Guatemalan varieties in California, where 

 many have been tested during the past twenty years, served to increase this 

 interest in the Central American republic from which they get their name. 



It was natural, therefore, that efforts should be made to obtain the 

 best varieties which Guatemala could furnish, for the horticulturists of 

 California and Florida would be satisfied with nothing less. Mr. E. E. 

 Knight, long a resident of Central America, and consequently a firm be- 

 liever in the avocado, went to the expense of making a trip to Guatemala 

 for the sole purpose of obtaining budwood of certain varieties with which 

 he was familiar. Fortune favored him, and he succeeded in introducing 

 the Rey, Linda, Knight, and Queen, all of which are now being tested 

 in the United States. 



At the meeting of the California Avocado Association held in Los 

 Angeles in the fall of 1915, Dr. H, J. Webber introduced a motion to 

 the effect that the Association should petition the Secretary of Agriculture 

 to send an explorer to Guatemala for the purpose of conducting a more 

 thorough search than had yet been attempted, not only for the best avo- 

 cados in the republic, from the point of view of quality, but also for vari- 

 eties which would extend the ripening season, varieties which would be par- 

 ticularly frost-resistant and so on. 



It was my good fortune to be sent on this mission. I remained in 

 Guatemala from the first of September, 1916, to the middle of December, 

 1917, thus having not only an opportunity to observe the trees during every 

 month in the year, but also sufficient time at my disposal so that I could 

 visit every portion of the country which gave promise of yielding anything 

 of value. It must be understood that travel in Guatemala is tedious, unless 

 one stays close to the railway which traverses the republic from east to 

 west and runs up the west coast to the Mexican frontier. Most of the im- 

 portant avocado regions are not accessible by rail; hence I had recourse to 

 the saddle for a large part of my work. 



Who is it that has said, "a year in the saddle is worth a lifetime by the 

 hearthside?" If his year was spent in the Guatemalan highlands, I believe 

 I would be willing to admit the truth of his assertion, for, with the excep- 

 tion of some hard pulls through rain and mud in the Alta Verapaz, and 

 equally hard pulls across the scorched and barren mountains which lie be- 

 tween Zacapa and the Honduranean frontier, I have never spent any more 

 enjoyable days than those during which I viewed the Guatemalan landscape 

 from my McClellan, perched upon a white pony, closely followed, Quijote 

 fashion, by my Indian boy upon a diminutive mule. Together we covered 

 nearly three thousand miles of rocky trail and dusty road, and in spite of 

 the rocks and the dust it was thoroughly enjoyable. Camping by the way- 

 side at sundown, up and in the saddle before the first gleam of day was in 

 the sky, halting from time to time as we came upon an interesting avocado 

 tree, and finally stopping for a day or two in an Indian village which gave 

 promise of yielding interesting avocados, — this was our program week after 

 week. Finally, after locating seedlings which appeared worthy of intro- 

 duction into the United States, budwood was cut, washed, and packed in 

 tin mailing tubes; a forced march made to Guatemala City, sometimes a 

 hundred and twenty-five miles across the mountains, and the precious freight 

 was deposited in the mails, to be opened only upon reaching Washington, 



