BO 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[March, 



TROPICAL FRUITS. 



ORANGES. 



Orange culture, which is now attracting 

 much attention in the United States, calls 

 for but little care in Brazil. The seed is 

 planted, comes up in a few days, and in Jive 

 years the trees begin to hear. Of course, 

 these seedlings vary greatly in size and qual- 

 ity of the fruit, but we know of no attempt 

 to raise seedlings of superior quality so as 

 to perpetuate the best varieties. Oranges 

 of the common sweet variety are plenty, 

 and sell often two or three for a cent. The 

 best are as good as Florida Oranges. The 

 fault we find with Brazilian Oranges is that 

 they are too sweet ; there is not enough acid 

 to make them palatable. The best variety 

 is called Laranja celeste. It is very large, 

 skin rusty yellow, pulp deep yellow, melting, 

 with a rich, spicy taste. 



Of species we have the Tangerine, which, 

 though never very large, is delicious ; the 

 Laranja da Cameta, which is almost identical 

 with the Mandarin ; and two varieties of the 

 bitter Orange, one of which has a sweet, 

 tasteless pulp. These have thick skins, and 

 are used only to make sweetmeats or drinks ; 

 they are called Laranja da terra. 



The large sweet Lime, called Laranja dc 

 Persia, is common ; the skin is yellowish- 

 white, the pulp almost white ; the juice has 

 no flavor, but is refreshing. Far different 

 is the sweet Lemon, which is better than 

 any Orange. In appearance it resembles a 

 Lemon, but the juice is sweet. It is not 

 common, and the sour Lemon is not culti- 

 vated at all ; the only trees we have ever 

 seen are grown by the American colonists at 

 Santarem, far up the Amazon, and the fruit 

 is regarded as a curiosity. In place of the 

 Lemon the Lime is grown in great quantities, 

 supplying in Brazilian cookery, in a great 

 measure, the place of vinegar. Both the 

 Orange and the Lime are in season all the 

 year in Para, the trees often being full of 

 ripe fruit and flowers at the same time. 



The Navel Orange of Bahia, which is re- 

 puted to be the best in the world, is grown 

 in private gardens, but is never seen in the 

 market. It derives its name from a protuber- 

 ance at the apex of the fruit, which, when 

 large, covers a portion of pulp ; it has no 

 seeds, and can only be propagated by bud- 

 ding. 



A little care might produce very fine 

 Oranges in Para, but everything in horticult- 

 ure in Brazil is shiftless, and the common 

 trees bear so abundantly, neglected and 

 eaten up by parasitical plants as they are, 

 and the fruit is so cheap, that, unless a foreign 

 demand can be created, we can see no future 

 for Orange culture in Brazil. 



BANANAS. 



Next to Oranges, the Banana ( Musa sapien- 

 tum) is the most common fruit. The trees 

 bear in nine months from the sucker ; the 

 stalk which bears the fruit dies, but many 

 suckers come up ; so that in this climate, 

 if Bananas are once planted, the work is done 

 forever. There are many varieties : the 

 common red and yellow, which are so well 

 known in the markets of the United States, 



and many other yellow-fruited kinds, of 

 which the best large is the " Santa Mai," , 

 and the best small the "Inaja." Banana 

 branca has the skin light yellow, at times 

 almost white ; the flesh is white, melting, 

 and tastes like a Pineapple. 



Banana Anao, or Dwarf, is a rare and 

 peculiar species. The plant seldom exceeds 

 five feet in height, but has broad, spreading 

 leaves ; the bunch of fruit is very large, and 

 so long that it is necessary to dig a hole in 

 the ground at the root of the plant to allow 

 its full development. The fruit when ripe 

 is bright green, yellow inside, and very rich ; 

 it is the best Banana we have met. 



Allied to the Banana is the Plantain {Musa 

 paradisiaca), which forms a chief article of 

 food among the lower classes, being eaten 

 raw or cooked. It has a rank taste, raw, 

 even when dead ripe, but is most palatable 

 either roasted, boiled, or fried. In Eastern 

 Peru the unripe Plantain, roasted in the 

 ashes, supplies the place of bread. It tastes 

 like roasted Chestnuts, and we once were 

 compelled, in a lack of all other food, to live 

 for a week on it, and we might have had far 

 worse food. 



On the Amazon the Plantain is called 

 Pacova; the fruit of the hybrid between the 

 Plantain and Banana is Banana Pacove, and 

 all others are Bananas, with distinguishing- 

 names to show the varieties. The amount 

 of Bananas or Plantains which maybe grown 

 upon an acre of ground is wonderful; we think 

 it was Humboldt who calculated the product 

 compared to that of Potatoes as forty-four to 

 one, and to that of Wheat as one hundred 

 and thirty-three to one. They are very 

 nutritious, wholesome, and cheap. In Para 

 a large bunch costs from thirty to fifty cents, 

 but up the Amazon we have often bought a 

 bunch heavier than we cared to lift, for five 

 cents. 



THE PINEAPPLE 



is also grown in great quantities, but is not 

 considered a very wholesome fruit. Some 

 of the varieties attain a great size, but these 

 large fruits are usually lacking in flavor. 

 We have eaten as good Pineapples in New 

 York as we ever have in Brazil, the fruit 

 here being always cut before it is ripe, and 

 ripened in the house. Pineapples are also 

 at times as cheap in New York as in Para, 

 the latter city only having the advantage 

 that any day in the year they can be had for 

 from ten to twenty cents each. The culture 

 requires no special care, — alight, sandy soil, 

 which will grow nothing else, giving a good 

 crop of Pineapples. No attention has as yet 

 been given to raising improved varieties, 

 and much might be attempted and gained in 

 this direction. 



GXJAVAS. 



There are many different kinds of Guavas, 

 both species and varieties, but they are not 

 held in much estimation. The common 

 people eat them raw, but they do not com- 

 mend themselves to the European palate 

 except in the form of jelly or marmalade. 

 The Araca, a species with bright yellow, 

 acid fruit, which makes a delicious jelly, is a 

 very handsome tree, and the flowers, which 

 are large, resemble single white Eoses full of 

 stamens, but, like most of the flowers in 

 this climate, they last but a day ; the tree, 

 however, is almost always full of fruit or 



FOREIGN EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS. 



In Europe the lessons in regard to climatic 

 adaptation of fruits and economic plants of 

 all kinds were learned in the long ago, and 

 people only plant such products as are 

 recommended for their respective sections by 

 the skilled managers of the many trial 

 stations liberally supported by each govern- 

 ment. Nor is this systematic work confined 

 to the several mother countries. No sooner 

 does England, France, Germany, or Russia 

 acquire new territory in some distant and 

 perhaps sparsely settled region, than the pre- 

 liminary steps are taken to establish experi- 

 mental stations with a view to introducing 

 the products of all countries likely to thrive 

 in the given climate and soil. 



England found Australia; India and New 

 Zealand destitute of hundreds of products 

 for which their soil and climate seemed well 

 adapted. In a brief time numerous experi- 

 mental stations, under the management of 

 experts trained at the home stations, had 

 introduced such a variety of valuable pro- 

 ducts, not native to the countries, as to 

 many times quadruple their commerce and to 

 materially modify the habits and customs of 

 the people. 



Quite recently France has occupied por- 

 tions of Egypt, yet experts from the French 

 botanical gardens are already on the ground 

 supplying the defects always associated with 

 a new section or a low state of civilization. 

 Even Russia has experimental stations and 

 forestry plantations in every province, sup- 

 ported in princely fashion, and she does not 

 fail to establish such stations as soon as 

 practicable in all newly acquired territory. 

 In all parts of Europe, indeed, the leading 

 thought has long obtained that constant 

 benefit can be realized from the exchange of 

 the economic plants of the nearly similar 

 portions of the earth. 



In addition to the experimental work done 

 at the schools of agriculture, schools of hor- 

 ticulture and schools of forestry, we find 

 near every large city of Europe an extensive 

 botanical garden, where are kept, distinctly 

 labeled, trees, shrubs, and plants of the world 

 adapted to the particular climate. 



That all this will be duplicated in our 

 country as we gain age and experience, I do 

 not doubt.— From Prof. J. L. Budd's report 

 to the Trustees of the Iowa Agricultural College. 



CACTUS AS A TROUBLESOME "WEED. 



Some species of Cactus, imported into Aus- 

 tralia, seem to find themselves so much at 

 home there, and are spreading to so alarm- 

 ing an extent as to seriously interfere with 

 land culture, and to necessitate government 

 aid. A leading Australian paper says : 



" A bill has been introduced into the New 

 South Wales Legislative Assembly for the 

 purpose of empowering the Government to 

 devote a certain sum to the eradication of 

 the wild Cactus plant, popularly known as 

 the ' Prickly Pear.' So rapid has been the 

 spread of this vegetable pest that, whereas, 

 according to the statement of one member, 

 fifty pounds would have sufficed thirty years 

 ago to rid the colony of it, a million sterling 

 will, before many years, be required for such 

 a purpose. It was stated that one proprietor 

 in the colony had spent one thousand pounds 

 on his land in trying to destroy this mis- 

 chievously prolific plant, but had not yet 

 succeeded." That's worse than " Pusley ! " 



