FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
35 
case to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
Orders for your release will be issued to¬ 
night by the Minister of the Interior.” 
This brought joy to my troubled heart, 
and I again saw the avocados of the Chota 
valley within my grasp. In the morning 
I was allowed to depart, after learning 
that I had been mistaken for a German 
who was reported to be escaping from 
Colombia with stolen property, and I was 
soon in the hottest and dryest spot I had 
seen in many a month—the Chota valley 
of northern Ecuador. 
This remarkable region contains several 
thousand avocado trees, most of them be¬ 
longing to the Mexican race. There are a 
few West Indians, and perhaps a few hy¬ 
brids. The Mexicans were probably car¬ 
ried there by Spanish monks, who owned 
and operated a large Hacienda in the val¬ 
ley for two centuries or more. 
For the following three months I was 
occupied in getting out bud-wood from 
this valley, and shipping it home to Wash¬ 
ington. It was about the most difficult 
job of this sort which I have ever tackled. 
First of all, the trees were dirty and in 
bad condition, which made it impossible 
to secure first-class bud-wood, and sec¬ 
ondly, I had to cut it, carry it on mule- 
back to Quito, a journey of three days, 
then pack it and ship it down to Guaya¬ 
quil, whence it was carried by steamer to 
New York. It took a full month to land 
the bud-wood in Washington, counting 
from the day I cut it in the Chota valley, 
and out of three shipments which I made, 
we saved only a few buds of five varie¬ 
ties. The most promising of these I have 
named Tamayo, in honor of my excellent 
friend, Jose Felix Tamayo, a young Ecua¬ 
dorean who gave me all possible assistance 
during the time I was in northern Ecua¬ 
dor, and without whose good offices it 
would have been well-nigh impossible to 
secure the Chota avocados. Tamayo is, 
as far as can be judged from its appear¬ 
ance, a Mexican avocado; but it weighs 
eighteen ounces, has a small seed, and the 
flesh is free from fiber and of excellent 
quality. The four other varieties which 
have been successfully introduced are 
slightly smaller than Tamayo, but all of 
good size and quality. If these avocados 
are true Mexicans, they ought to prove as 
hardy in the United States as other varie¬ 
ties of the Mexican race, and in this case 
they will be extremely valuable; for every¬ 
one is learning that it does not pay to plant 
any but the hardiest avocados in most 
parts of California and Florida. At least, 
there is a frost-hazard which is sufficient¬ 
ly serious to merit consideration. 
Outside of the Chota valley, I found 
nothing of interest in Ecuador, so far as 
avocados were concerned, though I got 
some very interesting blackberries and 
raspberries, a remarkable cherry, and sev¬ 
eral other promising fruits. I went down 
to Peru, and looked over the avocados in 
the vicinity of Lima, but they proved to be 
ordinary West Indians, inferior to the 
best varieties of southern Florida, so I did 
not tarry, but proceeded to central Chile, 
where I knew there were many avocados 
of the Mexican race. In the vicinity of 
Quillota, between Valparaiso and Santi¬ 
ago, I found several thousand trees, but 
from all I could learn, they are small- 
fruited and not likely to be of much value 
