56 BULLETIN 743, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
very promising variety, especially for Florida, where many of the 
Guatemalan avocados do not bear heavily. 
The parent tree is growing in the finca La Polvora in Antigua. 
The elevation is approximately 5,100 feet. On all sides of the tree, 
and crowding it somewhat, are large coffee bushes. The soil is a 
rich sandy loam of volcanic origin, deep and friable. The tree is 
probably 6 or 7 years old. It is 20 feet in height, very slender in 
habit, the trunk 6 inches thick at the base, branching at 8 feet 
from the ground. The crown is slender, sparsely branched, with 
very little fruiting wood. Its growth seems to be reasonably vigor- 
ous, the young branchlets being stout, though very short. The wood 
is rather brittle. The bud wood furnished by the tree is rather poor, 
owing to the shortness of the growths and the fact that the buds are 
too closely crowded together. The eyes, however, are well formed 
and show no tendency to drop and leave a blind bud. It may be 
found that the tree will require training when young to keep it stocky 
and of good form. 
The hardiness of the variety can not be ascertained at present, since 
the climate of Antigua is not cold. It may be assumed, until a test 
is made in the United States, that it is about as hardy as the average 
of the Guatemalan race. 
The tree did not flower in 1917, owing, most likely, to the heavy 
crop which it ripened from the 1916 blooms. Probably under better 
cultural conditions and by thinning heavy crops, greater regularity 
in bearing could be induced; in Guatemala, where no cultural atten- 
tion is given to the trees, it is common for them to bear very heavily 
one season and fail to bear the next. Judging by the appearance of 
the spring flush of growth, which always accompanies the flowers, 
the variety will flower in March. The fruits ripen from March to 
May. Although the tree has very little fruiting wood, it produced 
125 fruits in 1917, which can be considered a very heavy crop. 
Several of the branches, in fact, were broken by the weight of the 
fruits they were carrying. 
The form of the fruit, as already mentioned, is practically the 
same as that of the Trapp— oblate or roundish oblate. The average 
weight is 12 to 16 ounces, but it may be expected that the weight of 
this and all other varieties in the collection will be slightly greater 
under good culture in the United States than it is in Guatemala, 
where the trees receive no attention. The skin is rather thin and smooth 
on the surface. The color is deep purple, almost black. Unlike most 
Guatemalan avocados, the surface possesses a decided glossiness. 
The flesh is rich yellow in color, free from discoloration or fiber, 
and of very rich flavor. The seed varies from small to slightly 
large. In this connection it may be noted that seeds of round or 
