104 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
very late variety originating at Home¬ 
stead ; and the McKean, a third very late 
variety originating at Ft. Myers. 
THE GUATEMALAN RACE 
In California, where the West Indian 
varieties are too tender, Guatemalan va¬ 
rieties are chiefly grown. In recent years, 
varieties of this race have attracted great 
interest in Florida on account of their 
extreme lateness of season and superior 
hardiness. In contrast to the thin-skin¬ 
ned West Indian fruit, they have fruits 
with a rough, leathery or shell-like skin. 
The quality of the Guatemalan fruits, 
while quite variable, is held by many to 
be somewhat superior in flavor and rich¬ 
ness to the West Indian race. 
In season the Guatemalan varieties 
promise to ripen in Florida from Decem¬ 
ber to May and even later. This factor 
of late season may prove a great factor 
in extending the shipping season so as to 
make it possible for Florida to ship some 
variety of avocado practically every 
month of the year. Furthermore, the 
Guatemalan varieties, as demonstrated in 
the recent freeze, are considerably hardier 
than West Indian varieties. At the 
Miami Station, where the temperature 
registered approximately 26 degrees, they 
were for the most part untouched, while 
West Indian varieties growing by their 
side were severely cut back. It must not 
be supposed, however, that the Guate¬ 
malan varieties are in any sense freeze- 
proof. Mr. Wilson Popenoe, of this De¬ 
partment, who has made extensive obser¬ 
vations with avocados in many parts of 
the world, considers that the average 
tree of the Guatemalan race ranks in 
hardiness with the lemon. During the 
recent freeze in Florida five-year old trees 
of many varieties were killed to the 
ground at a temperature of approxi¬ 
mately 23 degrees. Some of the Guate¬ 
malan varieties, Fnerte and Pueblo, for 
example, appear to be considerably har¬ 
dier than the average. 
The first Guatemalan fruited in Flor¬ 
ida in 1912 and since that date many 
varieties have been introduced from Cali¬ 
fornia. For the most part these are grow¬ 
ing well although none have fruited suf¬ 
ficiently as yet to fully establish their 
value for Florida conditions. Even in 
California where Guatemalans have been 
grown for the past ten years only four or 
five of the hundred or more varieties that 
have fruited there are beginning to show 
up as desirable in all respects. Fuerte, 
one of the leading California varieties, 
has attracted much attention at Miami on 
account of its very rapid growth and 
hardiness. In many of its characteristics 
the first crop, borne in November, 1916, 
was somewhat disappointing, however, as 
the fruits showed a tendency to shrivel 
on maturing. Possibly this defect was 
due to the rapid growth made by the 
young tree and may disappear as the 
tree gets older. Its behavior illustrates 
the point, however, that even the most 
promising California avocados must be 
thoroughly tested before they can be 
safely planted in Florida. 
Taft has also fruited in Florida, ripen¬ 
ing from February to April, and is con¬ 
sidered worthy of further trial. 
Taylor is the only Guatemalan variety 
