106 HORTICULTURE 



iuto four pieces, aud replanted them again, so that, as he said, 

 they might not be lost ! We have a small long-pod Bean grown 

 here in considerable quantities, but it is never topped, and this 

 produces only a few pods in perfection at the upper extremity. 

 I ventured one day to suggest this simple operation to the Padre, 

 but he treated the very idea with contempt, scientifically illus- 

 trating his opposition, by asking me if it would conduce to my 

 health to be made a head shorter? The logic was unanswerable, 

 the old man had made out his " reductio ad absurdum," and I had 

 nothing more to say for myself. 



Parsley is a much esteemed plant, but seems always, I know 

 not from what cause, extremely scarce. Celery is unknown in 

 a cultivated state, but grows wild in the ravines of the neigh- 

 bourhood. 



Mint, Chervil, Dill, Basil, and Marjoram, are grown and used, 

 but Sage and Thyme are unknown. The leaves of Prince's 

 Feather and Love Lies Bleeding, both wild and indigenous 

 plants, are boiled, and eaten as we do Spinach, and are tolerably 

 good. The Tomato, or Love Apple, is produced in abundance, 

 and enters, boiled and raw, into the composition of many 

 dishes. Turnips have been frequently sown, and at proper 

 seasons I have no doubt would do well, but in the experiments 

 hitherto made, were never thinned out, and of course came to 

 nothing. 



T have stated above that the Potato of Tacna is not good, but 

 this in a great degree is compensated for by the excellence of the 

 Camote, or Sweet Batata, a Convolvulus producing large, nutritive, 

 and well-tasted roots ; the Arracacha, something like our 

 Parsnep ; and several varieties of Pompions, which are truly 

 excellent ; and all these valuable plants require no further care 

 than an occasional watering. 



Of fruits in this valley we have hardly one species peculiar to 

 the latitude or the country, but an abundant supply of tropical 

 kinds is brought from the warmer places nearest to us ; the few 

 we have are as follows : — 



Figs, of excellent quality and in great abundance ; the trees 

 grow to upwards of forty feet in height, and no care is 

 taken of them whatever ; the first crop is ripe in December, 

 and the second or main one in March and April. 



Grapes, of several kinds in plenty, but not nearly so fine in 

 quality as those brought from Locumba, twenty leagues to the 

 north, where immense quantities of wine and brandy are made 



