Horticulture in Foreign Lands. 



when fully ripened is of first-rate quality. The leafy tops of 

 the apples are set out in rows, and soon take root and develop 

 into stems one to three feet in height and producing a fresh 

 fruit at the summit. 



The guava (Psidium pomiferuni) is very common in the wild 

 state, and often planted in gardens. It yields a fruit about the 

 size of an apple, with a sweet, reddish pulp and numerous 

 seeds, and is frequently put up in cans as a preserve or jelly. 

 Birds and animals are very fond of it. 



The Carica Papaya, or mamona, as it is commonly called in 

 Paraguay, or, occasionally, papaw, is another garden fruit 

 which is very common throughout the country. This is a small 

 tree, twenty or twenty-five feet high, that bears clusters of fruit 

 in the axils of the lower leaves. The fruit is as large as an 

 orange when ripe, but quite insipid in taste. It is rarely served 

 upon the table and never employed in cookery, so far as I can 

 learn. 



The peach is frequently cultivated, but unless in exceptional 

 situations and given especial care, its fruit is small, hard and 

 nearly worthless. The same may be said of the grape, so far 

 as my own observation goes. I have often bought the grapes 

 which are offered for sale in the Asuncion market and in the 

 towns along the line of the railway, but have never yet seen 

 any that I regard as worth the eating. Still, it must be said 

 that the grape has hardly been given a fair trial in Paraguay, 

 and conflicting accounts are given in regard to the success 

 which attends its culture. Some estancieros tell me that they 

 have succeeded in getting good grapes, while others have en- 

 tirely failed. "The Emigrant's Guide Book," an official 

 publication of the Paraguayan government, states that the 

 vine flourishes here, that "magnificent raisins " have been made 

 of the grapes, and that experiments show that good wine might 

 be made from them, all of which statements are rather couleur 

 de rose than true in fact. The grape is not a native of the 

 country, and the probable truth about it is that the soil is too 

 dry and sandy and the climate too hot for the grape ever to do 

 well here, except on a limited scale. As to getting magnificent 

 raisins, or any raisins at all, I am exceedingly skeptical. 



What is true of the grape is equally true of the pear, the 

 apple, the quince, the apricot, the plum and the almond. 



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