BUENOS AIRES AND ITS RIVER OF SILVER 



409 



President Blank the day he was assassi- 

 nated" and the "Dagger used by murderer 

 of General Blank." 



One perennially popular Argentine hero 

 is Almirante (Admiral) Brown, a Phila- 

 delphian, who came to the country about 

 1800 and took command of the Argentine 

 navy, waging a John Paul Jones type of 

 warfare against the Spanish frigates. 



A CITY OF PARKS AND PLAZAS 



Buenos Aires is a city of parks and 

 plazas. Seldom need one be out of sight 

 of trees and fountains. The plaza may 

 be of an acre or less, but it will have 

 palms and other lovely trees, fountains, 

 white statuary, and flowers in abundance. 

 There are some sixty plazas occupying a 

 block or more, not counting tiny breath- 

 ing spots at street intersections, and 

 fifteen great parks, of which at least three 

 have areas of a square mile each. 



Few places offer the gardener such 

 cooperation in fertility of soil and tem- 

 perate climate. Where else may one find 

 palms and pines, guavas and geraniums, 

 cypresses and cedars, oaks and oleanders, 

 growing side by side and each attaining 

 its maximum development? 



Geraniums climb fifteen feet or more; 

 sweet peas nod over ten- foot walls ; roses 

 bloom both in spring and in fall. 



Only a few plants from the hottest 

 portions of the tropics (such as Victoria 

 regia water-lilies) need coddling, while 

 spruces, firs, and birches from the colder 

 parts of the earth thrive amazingly. The 

 eucalyptus from far-off Australia does 

 well, but no better than the American 

 white pine, Canary Island palm, and 

 English oak. 



It is in Palermo, that belt of parks and 

 gardens along the shores of the Plata, in 

 the northern part of the city, that many 

 of the finest scenic effects may be found. 



Here is located the huge Parque de las 

 Tres de Febrero (Park of the Third of 

 February), with its lagoons, shaded 

 bridle-paths, and winding driveways. In 

 this park is the famous Rosery, where, in 

 the space of a few acres, have been 

 brought together over five thousand 

 named species of roses. 



One enters the Rosery by a rustic bridge 

 across a lovely arm of the park lake and 

 finds himself in an immense garden laid 



out in blocks like a city, with wide paths 

 for streets. At frequent intervals are 

 white benches and everywhere roses — 

 white, pink, red, yellow, single and double, 

 large and small ; roses whose sturdy stems 

 are like small trees ; climbing roses clus- 

 tering over pergolas and arbors; beds of 

 rare dwarf roses; white statuettes half 

 concealed in masses of bloom. 



The garden's charm is not at its least 

 at night, when the white-globed lights 

 blend with the moon to lend the illusion 

 of fairyland. 



In Palermo are also found the Jardin 

 Botanico and the Jardin Zoologico. The 

 former stands as an everlasting memorial 

 to its designer and first director, Carlos 

 Thays. 



This landscape architect, a native of 

 Paris, began his work in Buenos Aires in 

 1 89 1 and continued it for over twenty 

 years. He journeyed through the length 

 and breadth of the republic, noting and 

 collecting hitherto-unknown flora to form 

 the basis of the garden. He was con- 

 sulted by the municipalities of Monte- 

 video, Santiago, Valparaiso, and Rio de 

 Janeiro, and aided nearly all the cities of 

 Argentina in landscape-gardening proj- 

 ects. 



His work in the Buenos Aires Jardin 

 Botanico has been worthily carried for- 

 ward by his successors, until today the 

 garden stands as a finished jewel of 

 verdure and bloom. 



Each of the provinces and territories 

 of Argentina, as well as the countries of 

 Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay, 

 and regions of Europe, Asia, Oceania, 

 Africa, and North America, has a section 

 dedicated to its peculiar flora. In the 

 North American section may be found 

 white pine, yellow poplar, various maples, 

 ash, birch, etc. The section tends to make 

 the American visitor homesick, and the 

 trees themselves look lonesome, with so 

 many strangers of the plant kingdom all 

 around. 



Another portion of the garden has 

 thousands of specimens arranged by 

 family — Rosaceae, Leguminosse, etc. Still 

 another section has plants grouped by 

 their uses — i. c, tanning, dye, medicinal, 

 oleaginous, poisonous, and textile. 



Two of the loveliest spots in the garden 

 are the Jardin Frances and the Jardin 



