GUAVAS AND THEIR CULTURE. 



raw or cooked, and ripening in long succession 

 from October till early winter, few berries even 

 on the same tree maturing at the same time, 

 while their yield per acre is said to be greater 

 than that of any other fruit. 



The Strawberry Guava is best suited to our 

 house-culture, doing well in any temperate- 

 house or warm conservatory. Its roundish 

 leathery leaves make it useful as an evergreen 

 shrub, and with a little training handsome 

 plants may be grown either from seeds (raised 

 in gentle heat), layers, or cuttings. Layers of 

 half-ripe wood root in a few weeks; older stems 

 require as many months or even a year to be- 

 come established. Cuttings of young shoots 

 just getting firm, put in sand and placed in 

 bottom-heat, are soon rooted, and when well 

 tended will fruit in their second or third year ; 

 bushes less than a foot high are often loaded 

 with berries. Though they lend themselves to 

 any form of training, under glass they are mostly 

 grown as standards, and such trees, whether in 

 tubs or planted out, are good in flower to say 

 nothing of theirfruit. Amixtureof sandy loam, 

 leaf-soil, and decayed cow-manure suits them, 

 the whole thoroughly porous and with abun- 

 dant drainage ; to ensure this lumps of rubble 

 or charcoal are sometimes added to the com- 

 post. 



On the Riviera the light granite soil of 

 many parts, enriched with a little manure, suits 

 them to perfection. They are there grown on 

 terrace walls where the sloping ground prevents 

 all risk of stagnant water ; with the collar well 

 raised they then risk nothing even from torren- 

 tial rains. For the greenhouse they should be 

 potted firmly and not over-potted, giving if 

 necessary a second shift during summer rather 

 than too much in spring. If old plants get at all 

 pot-bound, weak liquid manure may be given 

 while the fruit is forming. The small white 

 flowers coming in May are numerous, slightly 

 fragrant, and, like many of the Myrtles, not 

 showy. During the flowering period the plants 

 should be kept rather dry and air given freely 

 when possible to aid in setting fruit. To get 

 this of good size thinning must be done early, 

 for crowded berries are small and tough; well 

 thinned they should reach the size of a small 

 plum, dropping off when quite ripe. They are 

 then of a deep wine-red colour at the surface 



and paler within, the flesh soft, of a fine flavour 

 with abundant juice. The finest fruits may be 

 used raw, sliced and sugared some hours before- 

 hand, and eaten with cream ; they are also 

 excellent stewed or in pies, while Guava jelly 

 deserves its fame as the richest known. Old 

 trees reach 1 5 or 20 feet in height, but may be 

 cut back when necessary ; some of the best 

 southern plantations are thus trimmed periodi- 

 cally, the finest fruit coming on fresh growths. 



The Pear Guava is rather more delicate and 

 needs stove heat. Its fruits are larger than those 

 of the Strawberry Guava, very fragrant, and of 

 fine flavour when fully ripe, but as they do not 

 mature till late autumn the full aroma is diffi- 

 cult to secure in bad seasons. B. 



A Spanish Garden.— Embosomed in a valley and 

 an unshorn forest, and refreshed by the Tagus and 

 the Xarama which mingle their streams beneath 

 the palace-walls, Aranjuez has long been the Tivoli 

 or Windsor of the princes, and the Tempe of the 

 poets of Castile. Even now, the traveller who comes 

 weary and adust from brown La Mancha, and from 

 the edge of the desert, looks down on the palace, 

 sparkling with its long white arcades and gilded 

 vanes amongst woods and waters, may share the 

 raptures of Garcilasso and Calderon. The island gar- 

 den, though deserted by royalty and grandeeship, 

 has yet its bright sun and rivers, its marble statues 

 and fountains half hid in thickets ; the old Elms 

 of Charles V. ; and cathedral-walks of Hornbeam, 

 peopled with a melodious multitude of nightin- 

 gales. The fountain-pipes that once climbed unseen 

 amongst the branches, and played from the tops of 

 the trees, have long ceased to play ; others, how- 

 ever, are still in full force ; and a few camels, parad- 

 ing to and fro with garden burdens, preserve an 

 oriental custom of the place, as old as the days of 

 Philip II. Here Velasquez attended his master in his 

 walks, or sat retired in " pleached bowers," noting 

 the fine effects of summer sunlight and silvan shade, 

 and making many sketches of sweet garden scenes. 

 — A nnals of the A rtists of Spain. 



