The Delta of the Parana 169 



and for which a market sprang up in Buenos Aires. 

 A number of years ago blight invaded the peach-groves 

 and their cultivation was gradually abandoned. The 

 peach trees were cut down and sold as firewood in the 

 city markets. The demand for firewood, as Buenos 

 Aires increased in size, became insistent, and the people 

 of the swamps took to planting willows and poplars, 

 which mature quickly. The business proved profitable. 

 The original forest-growth consisted mainly of the 

 Erythrina crista-galli, a low papilionaceous tree, which 

 in the springtime throws out from its gnarled and 

 knotted branches great masses of purplish-red bloom. 

 As these trees were cut down, they were replaced in 

 every direction with plantations of Italian poplars 

 and European willows. The native willow' (Salix chil- 

 ensis), which grows here and there, does not seem to 

 make wood as rapidly as the imported European species, 

 and it was only occasionally that we saw specimens of 

 this beautiful tree. The weeping willow (Salix baby- 

 lonica) is extensively planted and very common. As 

 soon as the willows and poplars acquire a diameter of 

 from six to ten inches, they are cut down and sawn 

 into short lengths for firewood and carried to the 

 market. We met scores of lighters towed by tugs, 

 piled high with wood which was being taken to the 

 wharves of the city. Though peaches are still grown 

 to a limited extent, oranges have proved more profitable, 

 and many of the islands are now covered with extensive 

 groves of lemon and orange trees. The quince also 

 does well, and, escaping from cultivation, it has taken 

 possession of many tracts, completely covering them. 

 The bushes, were arrayed in white bloom as we 

 passed through the canals. The fruit when ripe is 

 gathered, and quince-jelly in flat tin cans, like those in 



