TROPICAL GARDENS 



Our European grasses do not, of course, thrive in the tropics ; 

 there the native varieties must be utilized, which are of a totally 

 different character, and none of them has been cultivated for 

 centuries with a view to making turf, as has been done with our 

 grasses in Europe, and above all in England. A grass much used 

 in Brazil is the so-called "pitted grass," in which the short ears are 

 seated in little cavities. For want of something better, however, a 

 sort of lily of the valley, known in Brazil as Gramma convallaria, 

 is sown in lawns, for its rounded leaves grow close together, and the 

 pretty ball-shaped flowers bloom only at a certain season. 



On the heights of Sao Paulo I found a grass whose leaves were 

 covered with glandular hairs, so that they had a felted appearance. 

 They exhaled a smell reminiscent of pot-herbs ; it was very insistent, 

 and reminded me of the wilderness, which has a similar smell. The 

 Brazilians call this grass Catingueiro, from catinga, which is the word 

 used to express the characteristic odour of the negro. 



At greater altitudes, where a more temperate climate prevails, 

 the gardens are more like those of Europe, and it is possible even to 

 make lawns and cultivate flowers like those we have in Europe. In 

 such gardens red and orange are no longer so predominant as in 

 the lowlands, and blue more frequently meets the eye. Even in wild 

 Nature blue prefers the heights; for example, the most beautiful 

 blues are frequent in our Alpine flora. 



In Brazil the blue convolvulus catches the traveller's eye even 

 on the railway embankments of Sao Paulo, where its fine turquoise- 

 blue trumpets open in their hundreds. But if we journey from Rio 

 to the three delightful mountain resorts of Petropolis, Therezopolis 

 and Nova Friburgo, the landscape, no less than the cooler air, will 

 often remind us of home. Petropolis, lying at a height of 2,600 feet 

 above sea-level, always reminded me of Baden-Baden (Plate 17). 

 When I first visited this charming Httle town I found the dignified 

 silence of the place peculiarly refreshing ; for then the motor-roads 

 had not been carried up into the hills, and instead of the obtrusive, 

 noisy, and often evil-smelling motor-car, only the peaceful clatter 

 of hooves disturbed the silence, and the journey from the station 

 to the town was made in cabs not unlike the old London hansom. 

 A whole network of valleys diversifies this friendly mountain land- 

 scape ; and as far as the confines of the town a straight watercourse 

 runs down the middle of each valley, accompanied on either side 

 by a road overshadowed by handsome trees, and beyond each road 

 is a footpath and a hedge, behind which lie beautiful gardens, 



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