1103 
throughout this part of America. I have not yet ex-' 
perlmented to see how the coyo tastes when prepared 
in salads or seasoned with vinegar, salt and pepper, 
but I have found it excellent when diced and eaten in 
bouillon, as is often done with the avocado by Guate- 
malans of the upper classes. To me its flavor is de- 
cidedly agreeable, and a good coyo, free from fiber 
and with a seed not too large in proportion to the 
size of the fruit, would impress me as a worthy rival 
of the avocado. 
"The tree grows under a variety of conditions. 
In the valley of the Motagua river, near Zacapa and 
El Rancho, it is found near the banks of streams. The 
air in these regions is exceedingly hot and dry during 
a large part of the year, the hillsides being covered 
with typical desert vegetation, --cacti , euphorbiads, 
and thorny leguminous shrubs and small trees. Con- 
trasted with these conditions, the upper Polochic 
valley, in the Alta Verapaz, where the coyo is ex- 
ceedingly abundant, Is a very moist region, with rain- 
fall, --as the Inhabitants state , --thirteen months in 
the year. In this part of Guatemala I have seen coyos 
at elevations well above 5000 feet. Like the Guate- 
malan type of avocado, it is very abundant from 4000 
to 5000 feet, but unlike the latter it seems also to 
do very well at lower elevations, being found around 
Zacapa at elevations of 500 feet above the sea, where 
the Guatemalan type of avocado Is usually replaced by 
the West Indian. 
"Judging from its behavior in Guatemala, the coyo 
ought to be successful in both Calif ornia and Florida. 
During the coming summer I hope to make a search for 
superior trees and obtain budwood for introduction 
into the United States. The season of ripening is 
from June to August in the lowlands, and in August to 
October or even November in the highlands. There are 
thousands of trees in the Verapaz, and it should cer- 
tainly be possible to find among them a few superior 
ones, well worthy of propagation. 
"In the coyo we have a fruit new to North Ameri- 
can horticulture , --so new, in fact, that it does not 
even have a botanical name, --yet one which is grown 
by the Indians of northern Guatemala as extensively 
as the avocado, and apparently looked upon by them as 
almost its equal. When good varieties have been ob- 
tained, and propagated- by budding, it seems reasonable 
to expect that the coyo will find a place in the 
orchards of the United States, throughout approxi-" 
mately the same belt in which the avocado is grown." 
