2 Department Circular 286 , U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. 
region of New Orleans, La., Savannah, Ga., and Charleston and 
Columbia, S. C., where it is esteemed locally for its wholesome fruits. 
Doubtless only the natural conservatism of individuals with ref¬ 
erence to their food habits has prevented the more rapid spread of 
the chayote in regions of the South and West where it can be 
grown successfully. Being of vigorous growth and prolific yield, 
a single vine in one’s garden or yard or trained over a porch or 
outbuilding produces under favorable conditions of soil and climate 
more than enough 
chayotes for the av¬ 
erage family. In the 
South, where similar 
vegetable products 
mature at other sea¬ 
sons, the chayote pro¬ 
vides an excellent 
fall and early winter 
table vegetable. The 
period of fruiting ex¬ 
tends from early in 
October until the 
vines are cut down 
by frost. A second¬ 
ary crop is often se¬ 
cured in the spring 
during April, May, 
and June if frost- 
free weather from 
nbout the 1st of Feb¬ 
ruary permits the 
vines to attain suffi¬ 
cient maturity for 
fruiting before the 
hot wet weather of 
the early summer. 
It has recently been 
observed that some 
chayotes tend to set 
the fall crop of fruit 
considerably earlier 
than others. If this 
proves to be a habit 
of some varieties or if a way can be found of forcing vines to set 
fruit by the middle of August wherever the plant will grow well, 
the chayote will be of value as an annual vegetable in many tem¬ 
perate regions. The habit of late fruiting in ordinary seasons in 
most regions limits the usefulness of the vegetable as a food plant to 
regions where no killing frost is ordinarily experienced until near 
the 1st of December. Chajmtes reach full size in 25 to 30 days after 
the setting of the fruit. Investigations by Garner and Allard seem 
to indicate that the chayote belongs to that class of plants which are 
stimulated to flower and fruit when the daylight period is rather 
Fig. 1.—Chayote alamode in Guatemala. The chayotes 
are boiled and eaten out of hand without salt or other 
seasoning. (P17753FS.) 
