TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



257 



tion of maize and mandiocca, but was even able 

 to send part of his produce to the city for sale. 

 His greatest hope, however, was founded on the 

 coffee plantation which he had just made. As a 

 proof of the general fertility of his estate, he se- 

 veral times treated us with potatoes, which were of 

 excellent quality. In fact, the farmer in these 

 districts has no reason to complain of want of fer- 

 tility and productiveness in the soil, if he only 

 takes care to choose for the plantations, those spots 

 which can be properly watered, and is sufficiently 

 acquainted with the nature of the soil adapted to 

 each branch of agriculture, as well as the proper 

 seasons. The mandiocca root thrives very well in 

 the whole province, except in low wet grounds, 

 and does not require much care in the cultivation. 

 The cuts {manihas) should be put into the ground 

 when the weather is temperate, neither too cold 

 nor too hot, and generally begin to shoot in four- 

 teen days ; in eighteen or twenty- two months, dur- 

 ing which time the farmer endeavours above all 

 things to check their growth upwards, by breaking 

 out the buds, the roots have attained their full 

 size. Each plantation usually yields three crops 

 at the most, and is then abandoned. The maize, 

 which generally produces two hundred fold, is 

 planted at the commencement of the rainy season, 

 and gathered at the end of four or five months ; 

 many kinds of beans come to maturity with still 

 greater rapidity. Garden herbs, Spanish potatoes, 



VOL. I. s 



