CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



107 



measurements exact. Many experiments were tried during the course of the 

 work in Guatemala, in order to determine whether a better method of pack- 

 ing could be devised, but nothing was found which gave such satisfactory 

 results as the method just oiltlined. I believe if avocado budwood can be 

 obtained clean and free from fungous spores, it can be shipped without the 

 slightest difficulty, but budwood covered with sooty mold, Colletotrichum, 

 and other fungi, — my bitter experience in Guatemala makes me prefer to 

 avoid it. 



Many thousands of avocado seeds were required at Washington for 

 growing seedling stocks on which to bud these new Guatemalan varieties. 

 We therefore purchased avocados in the markets of Guatemala City, 

 hauled them by cart to our headquarters in the suburbs, and there cleaned 

 and dried the seeds and boxed them for shipment. They were forwarded 

 by freight to New York or New Orleans, and thence to Washington by 

 express. The method of packing employed was the simplest imaginable, 

 the seeds being dried in the shade, with perhaps a few hours in the sun just 

 before they were packed in order to remove all moisture from the parch- 

 ment-like seed coats, and packed in wooden boxes, with a little hay below 

 and above to act as a cushion and keep them from rattling around. There 

 was practically no loss due to decay in transit; some of the seeds were 

 found upon arrival in Washington to be infested by the broad-nosed grain 

 weevil {Caulophilus latinasus) , and were thrown out; while some which 

 were taken from slightly immature fruits shrivelled and became useless. 

 But in general the percentage of loss was small. It may be of interest, en 

 passant, to note that the fruits purchased for seed in no instance cost us 

 more than 50 cents a hundred, and rarely more than 35 cents. Yet they 

 were not culls or in any way inferior, but were good fruits which would 

 bring 50 cents each in the eastern United States about Christmas time. 



Races 



Before entering upon a consideration of avocado culture in the Guate- 

 malan highlands, it is well to speak of the various races of avocados and 

 their occurrence in Guatemala. It is becoming more and more apparent, 

 as the years go by, that the first question to be asked concerning any avo- 

 cado is. To what race does it belong? And it is equally important to ask, 

 when considering any particular avocado region, What races are grown 

 there? All three races at present known to horticulture, — the West In- 

 dian, the Mexican, and the Guatemalan, — are found in Guatemala, but 

 the first two are far exceeded in importance by the third. It is only the 

 Guatemalan race, in fact, that needs to receive our attention, since other 

 regions possess much better varieties of the West Indian and Mexican 

 races. The Mexican race is scarcely known in Guatemala, only two trees 

 being seen during the entire course of my year's travel in the country. I 

 had reports of others from the Indians in several places, and am inclined 

 to think they may occur wild in some places, but they cannot be abundant. 

 The varieties seen were small and horticulturally inferior, suggesting by 

 their size that they had never been improved and were the product of trees 

 not more than one or two generations removed from the wild. The West 

 Indian race is well known in the lowlands of both coasts, ascending to about 

 2500 feet. It is nowhere grown very commonly, however, and many of 

 the avocados seen in the markets of lowland towns are fruits of the Guatc- 



