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Annals of Horticulture. 



grow a few stunted orange trees, cocoa palms and Araucarian 

 pines, the latter being one of the few exotic trees which have 

 been introduced into the country. A solitary Mexican agave is 

 all that adorns the other two sides. The interior of the enclo- 

 sure is a mere waste of sand, partially covered with stunted 

 grass. This caricature, which might have become a thing of 

 beauty if ever finished, is, I am informed, one of the many 

 essays of Lopez, who attempted, some 30 years ago, to erect 

 public buildings and to form public gardens similar to those 

 which he had seen in his European travels. The war between 

 Paraguay and the allies interrupted his projects, and since his 

 day no efforts have been made either to complete his designs 

 or to beautify the city with other works of the kind. 



The plazas of other Paraguayan towns and villages — and all 

 of them are constructed with a central square, in which stands 

 a church, surrounded at a considerable distance by the shops 

 and dwelling-houses, a plan invariably adopted by the early 

 Jesuit settlers of the country — are uneven squares of land, cov- 

 ered with poverty-stricken grasses, upon which horses, donkeys 

 and cattle graze at will. 



A few of the "quintas" or country residences of gentlemen, 

 indicate some attempt at "grounds." The most that is done 

 in this line, however, is to set out rows of flowering shrubs in 

 an irregular manner by the sides of the walks and fences. The 

 shrubs seen in such gardens are, many of them, peculiarly 

 beautiful, the flowers being of the most showy kinds, but no 

 care is taken to arrange them artistically. The favorite sorts 

 are exotic acacias, euphorbias, daturas, the Meli Azedarach, 

 here called the "Tree of Paradise, "jessamines and oleanders. 

 The native vines, shrubs and trees, of which there are numerous 

 species, many of them possessing charming foliage and flowers, 

 are seldom cultivated. Now and then there may be seen a 

 transplanted vine belonging to the order Asclepiadaceae or Con- 

 volvulaceae, climbing over trellises in front of dwelling-houses, 

 and occasionally a native shrub or tree by the garden fences. 

 Of bedding flowers, little else is to be seen, except the petu- 

 nia, zinnia, marigold, tuberose, coxcomb and the four-o'clock, 

 but these will grow spontaneously after having been once plant- 

 ed, and they are usually left to straggle about at will. 



I am bound to say, in passing, that there is a single instance 

 of a more pretentious character in Asuncion. This is a small 



