102 HORTICULTURE 



One man, with a " lampa," makes a small hole at the root of every 

 clump of plants ; another follows with the guano in a bag, who, 

 dropping a little of the compound in the hole, covers it in with his 

 foot ; irrigation follows, and within a few days the appearance of 

 the braird is totally altered : it is now green, succulent, and 

 healthy, and gi'ows with a rapidity and vigour hardly credible. 

 Just before the plants cover the whole surface, the process is 

 repeated and the cares of the husbandman are at an end till, in 

 due time, he gathers in his abundant harvest. Now, when it is 

 considered that three bushels of this manure is sufficient for an 

 acre of corn, growing to the height of eight or ten feet, and that 

 each clump of five or six such plants does not get more of it in all 

 than about half an ounce in weight, its nutritive qualities must be 

 allowed to be most wonderful, and far to exceed bone-dust, or any 

 of the agriculto-cbemical discoveries of England. 



Potatoes are grown in considerable quantities, but they are 

 never good, either the climate or the water disagreeing with them ; 

 they produce abundantly, but do not seem to ripen, and are 

 always watery and insipid, whilst those grown by the Indians on 

 the skirts of the Cordillera, from 6000 to 8000 feet above the 

 sea, and brought here for sale, are excellent. They are planted 

 like the Maize in I'idges, at all seasons indifferently, but the 

 principal crop is put into the earth in June, and gathered in 

 September, in an abundance proportioned to the guano and water 

 it has received. 



Capsicum, or Aji. — This pungent seed-pod is here reckoned an 

 indispensable necessary of life ; it is used, in some form, in all 

 sorts of food, is eaten alone, with bread or Potatoes ; beaten into 

 a paste, betwixt two stones, a plateful is on every dinner-table ; 

 whilst soup, stew, and salad all witness separately to its presence. 

 Various kinds are cultivated, but the sort of most value, and the 

 most productive of all, yields a long, coarse-looking, and almost 

 black pod. The plants are raised on a seed-bed sown in July, 

 and planted out on previously well-watered ridges in October and 

 November. When freely irrigated, for Aji requires more water 

 than any other crop, and supplied with the necessary guano, the 

 growth is extremely rapid ; in April the first pods are ripe, and 

 there is a constant succession till the end of August ; they are 

 gathered as they mature, dried in the sun, and then packed up in 

 sedge bags, holding an arroba or 25 lbs. each, for sale. The 

 valley of Tacna produces but little more Capsicum than what is 

 necessary for home consumption, the interior being supphed by 



