90 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[May, 



oreioii 



TROPICAL FRUITS. 



TAMARINDS. 



The Tamarind (Tamarindus Indicus) is 

 often cultivated in Brazil. There are two 

 varieties, which seem to differ only in the 

 length of the pod. The ripe pods are sold 

 in the streets for about a cent each ; they 

 have a soft, acid pulp, and are chiefly used to 

 make a refreshing drink, called here Wine 

 of Tamarind, though it is not a fermented 

 liquor. 



The tree is very beautiful, with light pin- 

 nate leaves and racemes of fragrant flowers, 

 in which the colors yellow, red, purple, and 

 brown are mingled. 



ALLIGATOR PEAR. 



The Alligator Pear, Perseu gratissvma, is 

 sometimes an immense tree. The fruit, 

 which is occasionally seen in New-York 

 markets, is pear-shaped, with deep green or 

 dark purple skin, according to the variety. 

 The pulp is firm, buttery yellow, surround- 

 ing a large, hard stone. 



In Brazil they fill the same place as Melons 

 in the United States, being eaten at break- 

 fast with sugar or pepper and salt, according 

 to taste. A liking for Abacaxe, as this fruit 

 is called in Brazil, is an acquired taste, but 

 one soon becomes very fond of them. They 

 cost only from one to three cents each, and 

 with Oranges and Bananas are the most 

 common fruit hawked round the streets by 

 the fruit-sellers, who carry them upon their 

 heads in large flat wooden trays. 



BILIMBI AND CARAMBOLA. 



These are two very pretty fruits, but of 

 exceedingly unpleasant taste. When ripe, 

 they are bright yellow, semi-transparent, 

 heavily ribbed, and fleshy. The pulp is 

 acid, with an indescribably unpleasant 

 flavor but the native children here eat 

 them, and, preserved in sugar or pickled, 

 they are said to be very good. They are 

 small trees, or rather large bushes, with 

 pinkish-purple small flowers and pinnate 

 leaves. The species differ in Avershoa 

 Bilimbi, having many pairs of leaflets and 

 producing the flowers from the trunk, while 

 A. Carambola has but two to five pairs of 

 leaflets, and produces the flowers on the 

 branches. 



MANGOES. 



The Mango, Mangifera Indica, is one of the 

 most beautiful of fruit-bearing trees. Origi- 

 nally from India, it has become acclimatized 

 in all tropical countries. In Brazil it grows 

 to a large size, but we have never seen trees 

 which had attained the magnitude to which 

 they grow in their native country. 



The foliage is deep, glossy green when old, 

 the young leaves varying from pink to deep 

 browny-purple. The flowers are small, yel- 

 lowish-pink, in branching panicles. The 

 fruit is one-sided, dark green, but often with 

 bright, rosy cheek ; is frequently, when fully 

 ripe, all bright yellow. The pulp is fleshy 

 but full of fibers which cling to the seed, 

 and as there is a great deal of juice it is 

 more difficult to eat a Mango than a cling- 

 stone Peach. There is no fruit which varies 

 more in quality than the Mango. The best 

 are equal to a delicious Peach, while the 

 common kinds have not inaptly been likened 



in taste to a mixture of tow and turpentine. 

 We have never but twice tasted fruit from 

 any tree that did not have a slight flavor of 

 turpentine, but as one of these trees is in 

 our own orchard and has a reputation in 

 the neighborhood as the best Mango in Para, 

 we can indulge our taste for Mangoes to its 

 full extent. This fruit is, however, not con- 

 sidered very wholesome, and although the 

 natives eat it freely, the stranger, until fully 

 acclimated, should beware of Mangoes. The 

 Mango season is from December to March, 

 but in the climate of Para this fruit, like 

 many others, can be had in greater or less 

 quantity at all seasons. 



BERMUDA ONIONS AND POTATOES. 



It has been about twenty years since the 

 first shipment of Bermuda Onions in quanti- 

 ties to the United States, and from that 

 time to the present the trade from year to 

 year has increased till*the shipments now 

 reach from three hundred thousand to four 

 hundred thousand boxes, of fifty pounds each, 

 per annum. 



The seed used is grown in the Canary 

 Islands, and is imported in the months of 

 August and September. It is the cnly seed 

 found to answer the purpose, as it ma- 

 tures earlier and produces a mild Onion. 

 Italian, Portugal, and Madeira seed has been 

 repeatedly tried and found not to answer, 

 being too late to command a remunera- 

 tive price in the American market. The 

 seed is sown in the months of September, 

 October, and November, thickly in beds, the 

 ground having been heavily manured with 

 stable manure two or three months before 

 sowing. The seed of the white Onion is 

 sown first, and produces the earliest crop, 

 the shipment of which commences in March. 



When the plants are sufficiently large — 

 about six or eight inches high — they are 

 transplanted into beds about four feet wide, 

 the plants being set about seven inches 

 apart each way. The white variety can be 

 transplanted as early as the plants are large 

 enough, and the ground can be made very rich. 

 Those of the red should not be transplanted 

 before the first of January, and the ground 

 requires to be only moderately manured. 

 If transplanted too early, and the soil is too 

 rich, the bulb is likely to split into several 

 pieces, and is worthless. After transplant- 

 ing, the soil requires to be lightened once or 

 twice, and the weeds removed before they 

 mature. As soon as the top begins to fall 

 they can be pulled, and should lie on the 

 ground two or three days, or until the tops 

 are wilted, when they are cut and packed 

 in boxes of fifty pounds each, and sent to 

 market, and sold or delivered to an agent, 

 who ships them on the producer's account. 



The earliest usually command the best 

 prices, and they are frequently pulled before 

 they are ripe, — cut, packed, and sent to 

 market the same day. Such Onions, if care 

 is taken in packing, as it usually is, are 

 deceptive in appearance, and after a few 

 days they become slack in the boxes, with 

 long sprouts, and when opened are unsatis- 

 factory. When the crop is large and the 

 market good, a large profit on the outlay is 

 realized, — an acre of ground sometimes re- 

 turning $600 to $800 ; but the business is to 

 a great degree hazardous, particularly when 

 the crop is a large one, as the only market is 

 the United States. 



Potatoes are more certain of finding a 

 remunerative market than Onions, but re- 

 quire more labor and outlay to produce 

 them. The seed was formerly nearly all 

 imported from the United States, but of late 

 years has come largely from New Brunswick, 

 Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, as 

 it can be obtained cheaper from those places, 

 and is found to answer as well. The first 

 crop of Early Rose, which is usually a small 

 one, not averaging over four barrels from 

 one of seed, is planted in October, and is 

 taken off in time for the second or principal 

 crop, which is planted in January or early in 

 February. The seed for this crop is almost 

 wholly the Bed Garnet, and ten from one is 

 considered a good return, although much 

 more is sometimes obtained. 



The Potato requires a deep soil, well 

 manured and sheltered from the high winds ; 

 and as a large portion of the ground suscep- 

 tible of cultivation is too much exposed to 

 the winter gales, and manure in sufficient 

 quantities is too expensive, most of the 

 planters prefer raising Onions. The ground 

 for Potatoes is usually plowed, or spaded 

 and raked, the seed cut into pieces with one 

 or two eyes, and planted by forcing into the 

 ground with the fingers to the depth of about 

 four inches, in rows about twenty inches 

 apart and about eight inches in the rows. 

 From six to eight barrels of seed are used to 

 the acre. When the plants are a little above 

 the ground the soil is lightened between the 

 rows with a fork, and when about six inches 

 high the earth from between the rows is 

 hoed around the plants. Only one hoeing is 

 required. 



The Potatoes grown here, if left in the 

 ground until fully ripe, are of a superior 

 quality ; but as a few days oftentimes make 

 a great reduction in the market value, there 

 is an incentive to get them to market as 

 early as possible, and a large portion of the 

 crop is shipped before it is ripe, not only 

 injuring the market value, but the reputation 

 as well. — United States Consul Allen, in N. 

 T. Evening Post. 



DECORATIVE TREE PLANTING. 



The Commissioners of the Woods and 

 Forests, of England, are trying to plant a 

 large extent of crown lands in the Isle of 

 Man with forest and ornamental trees. The 

 experiment, which is watched with inter- 

 est not only by those who follow sylvi- 

 culture as an art but by the many who 

 regard with apprehension the gradual denu- 

 dation of forest and woodlands, leads 

 Land ' to comment on the growth of a 

 taste for planting; for transforming into 

 artistic plots grounds which are ill-favored 

 and uninviting ; for digging lakes and form- 

 ing cascades, resulting in magnificent com- 

 binations of sylvan charms. 



"Color, expression, form, variety, are all 

 within the reach of the landscape gardener. 

 Trees and shrubs lend themselves most 

 readily to the harmonious combinations of 

 the true artist. Whether in shape, coloring, 

 or growth, they are always sufficiently dis- 

 tinguished for the purposes of variety. Yet it 

 is always possible to select trees of one kind 

 distinguished only by characteristic marks, 

 as a young Beech, a Birch, and a Larch, 

 all pendant, though in different degrees, 

 which will form a beautiful mass where 

 unity is preserved without sameness." 



