Horticulture in Foreign Lands. 



237 



various kinds, is the principal product of the market gardens 

 in the vicinity of the towns. Nearly all kinds grow continu- 

 ously the year round. Peas and beans are largely cultivated. 

 The peas are usually quite small, resembling the variety which 

 we call bush or early peas. Both the field bush bean and the 

 large climbing bean are raised, and are used both as string and 

 as shelled beans. Tomatoes, turnips, onions, egg-plants, beets, 

 pumpkins, squashes, carrots, cabbages, cauliflowers and turnip- 

 radishes abound, but, as a rule, of small and inferior kinds. 

 The people seem to have no idea of the numerous and im- 

 proved varieties of these vegetables which are known to the 

 gardeners of our country. 



As salads, I find in use lettuce, endive, parsley, chickory and 

 a water-cress known popularly as " berro." By far the best of 

 these is the lettuce, of which two forms, the curled and the 

 smooth-leaved, occur. The cabbages would hardly draw a 

 prize at our agricultural shows, as they rarely develop into 

 heads, or, at least, into heads bigger than a base ball. The 

 leaves are sometimes prepared in the form of what we call a 

 "boiled dinner," but for the greater part they are chopped up 

 and used in soups under the. name of " verdura" or "green 

 stuff." 



Asparagus is also raised to a limited extent, and cooked and 

 eaten as in our country. I hear also that foreign residents have 

 endeavored to raise celery, but invariably without success. 



As to ornamental gardening in Paraguay, not much can be 

 said. The country has hardly progressed far enough for that. 

 Such a thing as a public square or garden, decorated with or- 

 namental shrubbery and flowering plants, is probably not to be 

 found in any of the cities or towns. In Buenos Aires there are 

 some very handsome, well-laid out public gardens, which are a 

 mass of rich bloom throughout the warm weather, but nothing 

 of the sort in Asuncion. The nearest approach to it that I have 

 seen is the plaza, or great market square in the heart of Asun- 

 cion. One half of this is an open sand bank, generally occu- 

 pied by a miscellaneous collection of donkeys, with large pan- 

 niers strapped across their backs, in which the market women 

 have brought their fruits and vegetables to market, and strange 

 looking ox-carts bearing charcoal, fuel, wood, bales of alfalfa, 

 thatching-grass and other articles. The other half of the plaza 

 is enclosed by an unsightly wire fence, along two sides of which 



