CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



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sists in clearing the ground two or three times a year with a hoe, but never 

 cultivating deeply. The avocado trees which grow among the coffee 

 bushes in Antiguan plantations certainly appear healthy and vigorous, but 

 it does not necessarily follow that this method of cultivation is the best. 

 They might be even more healthy and vigorous under another. 



Regularity of Bearing 



I was somewhat surprised to observe the irregularity in bearing which 

 seems to characterize most of the trees in Guatemala. How much of this 

 irregularity is due to faulty culture, and how much is inherent, I do not 

 know. I hope that much of it can be eliminated when the trees are planted 

 in our orchards and their needs carefully studied and supplied. But it 

 was rare to find a tree which bore heavily two years in succession. The 

 Guatemalans usually say that the trees bear a heavy crop one year and a 

 light one the following, but I saw many trees which bore heavy crops one 

 year and nothing the next. This is a point which I do not believe we have 

 emphasized sufficiently in this country, and I would strongly urge all pros- 

 pective planters of Guatemalan avocados to investigate thoroughly the 

 bearing habits of the varieties they propose to plant. Unfortunately, we 

 do not know a great deal about the bearing habits of many of our varieties, 

 for they have been in cultivation but a short time. But it appeared to me, 

 from my observations of seedling trees in Guatemala (it is, of course, un- 

 derstood by all North Americans that every avocado tree in Guatemala is a 

 seedling) that there was a remarkable difference in this respect, and some 

 varieties I would look upon as likely to be much more regular bearers than 

 others. It is probably more important to have a tree that bears regularl}) 

 than one that bears abundantly ; by this I mean a variety which will pro- 

 duce a fair crop every year rather than one which will produce an enor- 

 mous crop one year and nothing the following. 



Season 



Travelers have returned from Guatemala City with accounts of avo- 

 cados every month in the year. It is true that there are avocados in the 

 markets of the capital throughout the year, but it is a mistake to infer from 

 this that avocados, in any given section of Guatemala, ripen continuously 

 from January to December. Guatemala City draws upon all the surround- 

 ing country for its avocados, and the surrounding country varies in eleva- 

 tion. The ripening season of avocados, is largely dependent upon eleva- 

 tion, hence by bringing in avocados from an altitude of 3000 feet part of 

 the year, from 5000 and 6000 the rest, the market can be supplied con- 

 tinuously. This ideal condition is also maintained in part by the custom, 

 far from ideal, of picking green and immature fruit at seasons of the year 

 ^vhen fully mature fruit is not available. I have purchased hundreds of 

 fruits in the markets of Guatemala City, — fruits calculated to be eaten by 

 the unsuspecting public, — which were so green they shrivelled upon soften- 

 ing, and the seeds within them were so immature they could not be used 

 for planting. This matter is doubly important to us when we remember 

 that a similar crime has sometimes been perpetrated upon the North Ameri- 

 can public by avocado growers in Florida and California. I know of 

 nothing better calculated to discourage people from eating avocados thein 

 this. Except in those varieties which become purple upon reaching matur- 



