1839.] AGRICULTURE. 139 



the inhabitants appear fond of moiling in the earth, and, in 

 most cases, where the maize fields or gardens, exhibit more 

 than ordinary luxuriance of vegetation, it must be attributed 

 to the kindness of Nature, rather than to the industry of man. 

 The implements of husbandry are rude enough. The plough 

 is- slightly made, has but one handle, and is constructed of 

 wood, without a mould-board. The ploughshare is a thick 

 iron blade, or piece of hard iron-wood, tied, when in use, to 

 the point of the plough, by a strip of leather. There are no 

 harrows ; but large, clumsy rakes, are used in place of them ; 

 and, sometimes, a green bough with heavy stones laid upon 

 it, is dragged over the sown ground, in the same manner as 

 in Chili. Cane plantations are ploughed and cross-ploughed 

 eight or ten times, and the earth is then broken down with 

 the heel of a short handled hoe. The Indians use, for the 

 same purpose, a flat round stone, with a long handle inserted 

 in a hole perforated through the centre. 



Instead of the scythe, the sickle is used for cutting grass 

 and grain ; and among the large planters, two or three per- 

 sons are kept constantly employed in cutting lucern, or alfalfa, 

 for the cattle and working oxen which are confined at night 

 in pens, or corrals. Potato grounds are turned up with long 

 narrow spades. The same instrument is used for preparing 

 the soil on the hillsides, for the reception of maize. The seed 

 is planted in holes made by a sharp-pointed stick. 



The fields and gardens in Peru are principally inclosed 

 within tapias, or mud fences, and hedges of maguey and the 

 Indian fig. Considerable attention is paid to irrigation, with- 

 out which a great portion of the land now yielding abun- 

 dantly, would be wholly unproductive. Manure, however, 

 is not deemed of much consequence. Quantities of guano 

 are brought every year from the adjacent islands in the Paci- 

 fic, but this is applied rather to horticultural, than to general 

 agricultural purposes. 



Cotton, sugar cane, maize, and camotes, or sweet potatoes, 

 are the principal products along the coast. The sweet pota- 

 toes are of two kinds, — the yellow and the violet ; they do 



