234 



Annals of Horticultwe. 



Many attempts have been made by foreign residents to raise 

 these fruits in Paraguay, but with indifferent success. 



The fig, on the contrary, is one of the fruits which takes 

 kindly to the soil of this country and thrives finely. I see it 

 occasionally in the gardens, but although it grows into a large 

 shrub and bears abundant and excellent fruit, no attempts are 

 made to cultivate it upon any extended scale or to produce 

 dried figs. In time the culture of the fig may become profit- 

 able, as the long summers, hot sun and moist atmosphere of 

 Paraguay seem peculiarly adapted for fig drying. 



Of the smaller fruits, such as gooseberries, raspberries, 

 blackberries, currants, blueberries and cranberries, rather 

 abortive efforts have been made to raise the first three only, 

 the others never. I am told that strawberries-have been raised 

 in some localities of fair quality, but I have seen none and do 

 not believe that either soil or climate is suitable for strawberry 

 culture. 



I find growing wild two edible-fruited eugenias and one sty- 

 rax. The fruits are about as large as plums and are sold in 

 the markets. Eugenia cauliflora, a purple fruit, and Styrax 

 reticulata, a yellow fruit, are both shrubs and are worth a trial 

 in the United States. The other eugenia, with a yellow fruit, 

 is a very large tree and hardly worth an experiment. The 

 purple one is known as Iba-viyu, and is called Myrtus guaviyu 

 by Parodi, in his catalogue of Paraguayan plants. 



Much might be said of tobacco, cotton, sugar cane, rice and 

 coffee, all of which do so admirably in Paraguay, but these be- 

 long to the field rather than the garden. 



Of vegetables, the most commonly cultivated and valuable 

 plant for table supply is the mandioca or manioc, or cassava, 

 as it is called in some books. This is a soft-stemmed shrub 

 some five or six feet in height, consisting of two species very 

 similar in general appearance, the one with poisonous juice 

 and known as "mandioca brava" (Manihot utilissima of bota- 

 nists), and the other with innocuous juice, popularly called 

 " mandioca dulce" (Manihot A ipe). The root or esculent por- 

 tion is from one to three feet in length and from one to three 

 inches in thickness, covered with a brown epidermis, with a 

 white, juicy, granulated interior. For sale in the market, the 

 root is taken when about the size of a parsnip or carrot, or else 

 broken into pieces about a foot long. Either species may be 



