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in my opinion, the one which should be disseminated 
most widely in the United States if atrial shows that 
it will succeed there. 
"The chayotes of Guatemala are variable in charac- 
ter, and there are no well-fixed and widely estab- 
lished varieties. Forms such as the 'guisquil de papa,' 
above referred to, are of very limited distribution. 
There is, of course, the well-known 'guisquil de Santa 
Maria,' but after examining it carefully I do not con- 
sider It to be a variety, but rather a race or group 
of closely related varieties. The 'guisquil de Santa 
Maria' is nearly round in form, 2 to 5 inches in di- 
"ameter, dark green in color, and smooth to prickly on 
the surface. It is considered to be of good quality 
and Is the commonest sort in the market of Guatemala 
City. It may be observed in this connection that it is 
generally considered by Guatemalans that the spiny 
sorts are of better quality than the smooth ones; but 
I am convinced that while this may in general be true, 
there are occasional smooth varieties which are as good 
as any of the spiny ones, and for the sake of greater 
convenience in handling and preparing for the table 
we will do well to avoid the spiny forms and search 
out the few good smooth ones for our use. 
"Chayotes of pyrif orm shape, such as most of those 
which have been grown in the United States, are not so 
common in Guatemala as the round ones. Large-fruited 
varieties are also somewhat uncommon, though fruits 
a pound In weight may occasionally be found in the market . 
"There is a group of chayotes, which is of par- 
ticular interest as being as yet unknown in the United 
States (outside of a few experimental plantings) and 
as possessing good quality coupled with attractive ap- 
pearance. These are the 'peruleros,' which name I take 
to imply small-fruited smooth forms, of both green 
and white color. Most of the peruleros are about the 
size of hens' eggs, and when young and tender they are 
excellent. The larger fruited peruleros include some 
splendid forms, of about eight ounces weight, which 
would seem to be especially worthy of propagation. 
The 'guisquil de papa' of Antigua, mentioned above, 
would seem almost to gome within the class of large- 
fruited peruleros. 
"For attractiveness, the white-fruited varieties 
are undoubtedly the best. Some of these are watery In 
character as are also most of the pale green varieties; 
but the white forms which have an opaque appearance and 
the deep green varieties are apt to be of fairly good 
