THE AVOCADO IK GUATEMALA. 11 
ORIGIN OF CHOICE VARIETIES OF THE PRESENT DAY. 
The splendid avocados of to-day are doubtless the product of 
centuries of more or less unconscious selection on the part of the 
Guatemalan Indians, just as the choice fiberless mangos of East 
India have been produced through selection by the Hindus. In 
the case of the mango, however, the Hindu has been enabled to 
perpetuate an unusually choice variety by resorting to vegetative 
propagation. This appears never to have been practiced in Guate- 
mala; hence, when a choice avocado tree grows old and dies the 
variety is lost. 
Because of the moist climate of Alta Vera Paz, an avocado seed 
dropped by the roadside nearly always sprouts and develops into a 
tree. This has led to the avocado being found in a semiwild state 
throughout that region, often in the edge of the forest and at such 
distance from any present habitation as to suggest that the species is 
truly indigenous. The suspicion always arises, however, that a seed 
may have been dropped by some passing Indian or that a hut may 
have stood close to the spot at some past time. When going to work 
in their clearings the Indians commonly carry avocados with them 
as part of their noonday lunch. The seeds of these fruits, cast aside 
wherever the Indian chances to be at midday, give rise to many 
avocado trees in little- frequented places. 
Though a careful search was made in the most promising sections 
of Alta Vera Paz for the wild avocado, no trees were found which 
it was felt could safely be considered indigenous. The primitive, 
half-wild forms so commonly seen, however, can without doubt be 
looked upon as the nearest approach to the wild species in so far as char- 
acter of fruit is concerned, and a comparison of these forms with the 
choicest varieties in cultivation brings out some striking differences. 
These half -wild avocados of Alta Vera Paz (PI. Ill) are nearly 
always round, small in size, with a hard, thick outer covering and 
a very large seed, leaving little flesh. The smallest are no larger than 
walnuts. Most of them are little more than 2 inches in diameter. 
The shell — for it can be called such — is either green or purple and 
rough externally; in texture it is so hard and brittle that it breaks 
irregularly when an attempt is made to cut it. Occasionally it is as 
much as a quarter of an inch thick. The flesh is of good quality, but 
the quantity is very small. The seed is tight in the cavity, with the 
cotyledons smooth and the thin seed coats adhering closely. The fact 
that nearly all of these fruits are round would indicate that this can 
be considered the primitive shape, the pyriform and elongated 
avocados being found in cultivation. 
When such fruits as these are contrasted with the splendid varieties 
of the Antiguan fincas, for example, the development which has 
