The aguacate forms the finest salad in the world. When used for this purpose the pocket from which the seed was removed is usually filled with broken ice, over which is poured a dressing of salt, vinegar and mustard or pepper, as fancy may happen to dictate. When filled with small cubes of sugar loaf pineapple and mayonnaise dressing, you have a “salad divine.” When taken this way, the aguacate is cut in half, the shell-like covering forming the bowl from which it is eaten. Owing to its content of oil, and other nutritious elements, the aguacate will probably go further towards sustaining life and producing energy than any other fruit known. It is also excellent when removed from the peel, cut into cubes and eaten in soup. The tree is a prolific bearer, the fruit ripening during the months of July to October inclusive. Other varieties recently introduced come into bearing in October and remain in fruit until January, some occasionally holding over until the month of March. In the development and improvement of the aguacate, it is the aim of the horticulturist to lengthen the bearing period as much as possible, and through selection to eliminate any space between the pulp and the seed; for the latter, if loose, will often bruise the fruit in handling and shipping. Since the aguacate, like most fruit trees, is not true to seed, this work can be accomplished only through grafting, and although successful, requires care and experience. The ordinary aguacate of the forest bears the fourth or fifth year from the seed, while the grafted varieties will bear the third year. A tree of the latter type, when five years of age, will bear from one hundred to five hundred aguacates, that will average two pounds in weight, and will sell in the fruit markets of the United States at from $1 to $3 a dozen. The tree may be grown on any well drained land and under conditions similar to those of the mango. On hillsides that have sufficient depth of soil, it does very well, and as the demand for fancy fruit in the palatial hotels of the United States increases, the growing of aguacates for commercial purposes will undoubtedly be undertaken in Cuba or a still larger scale. CHAPTER XXII GRAPES, CACAO, AND VANILLA In spite of the fact that the Grape is indigenous to Cuba, prohibitory laws on the part of Spain discouraged its culture in all of her colonies, so that vine culture in the Island has had no opportunity to thrive. The few isolated specimens found occasionally in gardens have produced excellent fruit, especially in the neighborhood of Guantanamo, where French refugees from Santo Domingo introduced a few plants in the beginning of the 19th century.