GARDENING : AVOCADO TREES BEAR A LIFE LESSON.

Byline: Joshua Siskin

If you want to teach a child - or any other innocent soul - about life, balance an avocado seed on the rim of a glass of water.

The trick is well-known. First you stick three toothpicks into an avocado pit (which is, in fact, a seed). The toothpicks should be equidistant from each other and inserted two-thirds of the way down from the seed tip. Next, set the toothpicks on the rim of a glass or jar with the tip end of the seed pointing up. The glass should contain enough water so that the broad base of the seed, below the toothpicks, is completely submerged.

In a number of days, you will see the seed begin to split down the middle, roots will grow out through the bottom of the split, and finally a shoot and leaves will emerge from the top. Now you will say to your child: ``Remember your roots, where you came from, the traditions of your ancestors. Only after you are fully aware of your origins, and put down roots of your own, can you be truly creative - send forth shoots, flower and bear fruit.''

Immediately, your child will ask, ``So will I see some fruit tomorrow or next week?'' Then you will have to instruct that what we learn from nature, above all, is the importance of patience. The avocado tree that develops from that seed in the glass will grow no less than eight years, and perhaps as many as 20, before it produces a single fruit. But what a fruit it will be! Coming from a seedling, it will be different from every other avocado fruit - maybe black, maybe green, maybe pebbly, maybe smooth - an avocado to be sure, but unique in its own way; just like children, each one as outrageous and as precious as the rest, but each one different.

You might recall that Jacob worked for Laban, his sleazy father-in-law, for 20 years, and was cheated by him day and night. But because of his patience and abiding faith, Jacob never wavered and eventually became prosperous and the father of a great nation. This same nation later spent 40 years in the desert and was guilty of many misdeeds but was rewarded with ``a land flowing with milk and honey,'' because of the determination and patience of Moses, its leader.

Happiness is an avocado

From the gap-tooth, pony-tailed profile, I knew it was him. Sam, the honest homeless one. I knew him from the Sav-On parking lot, where he washed car windshields in hopes of cadging spare change; I knew him from the 7-Eleven, where he would stand by the door and ask, ``Do you happen to have an extra quarter - I need some money for lunch''; and I knew him from before, at the county jail farm, where he had worked under my tutelage propagating English ivy and trailing African daisies.

Now, in the grocery-store checkout line, I saw him clutching a large bottle of beer in one hand and a Hass avocado in the other. After he counted out the price, in nickels and dimes, of his two purchases, he produced a pocket knife and deftly cut the curvaceous fruit into two matching halves. He asked the checker for a plastic spoon and, taking two steps back, began scooping the smooth, oily yellow flesh out of its black pebbly skin, as though it were ice cream.

Seeing that fastidious consumption of the so-called alligator pear brought up memories of a summer spent in the avocado groves of Temecula almost 20 years ago. It was exactly in that style that Herman, the Mexican field worker, used to cut up and eat his avocados. Herman taught me my first Spanish word, ``ardilla,'' which means squirrel. That fluffy-tailed rodent's lusty appetite for avocados was a major problem in the Temecula groves.

Herman was in remarkable shape for his age, which must have been more than 50. On Fridays, when it was my job to bring him and his friends their weekly pay, I might see him with his shirt off, washing himself off with a hose, not an inch of fat on his lean frame.

Thriving in Temecula

Each day, Herman spent eight hours climbing up and down the steep slopes of the Temecula groves, expanding the drip irrigation system, replacing clogged emitters, or repairing the lines where they had been gnawed through by coyotes. The avocado tree loves a slope for two reasons: first, it is a tree that demands perfect drainage, and the terrain of a slope eliminates the possibility of standing water; second, it is a tree that cannot tolerate much of a freeze and, since cold air moves downhill like water, the side of a slope may remain frost-free even when the temperature dips below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

I was interrupted from this Temecula reverie (still in the grocery checkout line) by Sam, the homeless one who, having consumed half of his avocado, lifted his head, recognized me and issued a loud greeting, clearly audible to the line of customers and, it seemed, to every other person in the market. ``I knew him at the jail!'' he shouted.

I have lived in California for the better part of two decades. The most contented people I have met, so far, were Herman and Sam. Herman lived in the avocado groves. Sam lived on the street. Both had nothing but their fastidiousness, their dignity and their honesty. Both, it was clear, had no gripe with the world, and both had been friends of mine.

The avocado is a gregarious tree that simply isn't good for much - because it cannot achieve its potential - when planted alone. In order to get fruit, you have to plant two different varieties, such as a black-fruited and green-fruited type, together. Most varieties are self-sterile and must be cross-pollinated by bees to produce a crop of fruit.

Perhaps the human race can learn something from this tropical tree. In order to fulfill our potential, we need to go beyond our own narrow circle and became companions to those much different from - and in some ways better than - ourselves.

Tip of the week: Once you get an avocado tree to grow, it is one of the easiest plants to care for. It may reach a height of more than 60 feet, yet, in a lifetime of up to 100 years or more, need not be pruned even once. Its leaves should be allowed to accumulate on the ground below it, since their decomposition will release the minerals that are essential to its health.