

196 



HORTICULTURE. 



Horticulture has of late years been rapidly 

 improving, and the markets of Recife are now 

 well supplied with vegetables and roots. The 

 gardeners are chiefly Portuguese, from the pro- 

 vinces of the mother country, or from the 

 Azores. Peas f, cabbages, and several other 

 kinds of European vegetables and roots are to 

 be purchased, besides others which are peculiar 

 to the country, such as mandubims and yams. 

 The European onion produces a small root of an 

 oblong form t, which is known in Pernambuco 

 under the name of cebolinho, as the diminutive 

 of cebola, an onion. The vine is to be seen in 

 many of the gardens in the neighbourhood of 

 Recife and of Olinda ; and formerly there were 

 a great many at Conception upon the island of 

 Itamaraca, but few now remain. No wine is 

 made. The fruit-trees are some of those which 

 are common to the southern parts of Europe, 

 such as the orange t, the fig, and others, but no 



* " Iljaut que les graines se naturalisent au pays, et quand 

 cela est fait, elles produisent amerveille. J' ai experiments 

 quayant s&rie des pais qui venoient de France, Us rapportoicnt 

 ires pcu, les seconds rapportoient davantage, mais le troisiemet 

 produisoient d'wie maniere extraordinaire pour le nombre, la 

 grosseur, et la bonfP?' — Nouveau Voyage, &c. torn. i. p. 367. 



f Du Tertre speaks of the same occurring in the Colum- 

 bian Islands. 



% Again Labat, " On employe le sue des oranges aigres 

 agec un succes merveilleux et infailliblc a gucrir les ulceres 

 quelquc vieux et- opmiatres quils puisscnt elre." — Nouveau 

 Voyage, &c. tom.iii. p. 254. 



