886 
THE TROPICAL AQRfOULTURfST 
[June i, 1892, 
On the coast, where there may be said to be 
literally no rainfall, the temperature is lower than 
that oi any country, in the same latitude, we have 
ever visited : and yet there is an absence of the 
chilling evening breezes so disagreable in Australia 
■ — so deadly in India. 
The temperature during our stay of several weeka on 
the coast — in July and October— rarely varied more 
than 4deg. in the 24 hours, viz., (jSdeg. to 72 deg. 
At a medium altitude of say 10,000 feet above 
sea level the difference between day and night 
temperature is of course greater, the thermometer 
ranging from 70 deg. to 75 deg. during the day and sink- 
ing to 50 deg. at night. Still, there is a crispness 
in the air which renders the climate peculiarly in- 
vigorating, and the robust health of the native Chola 
amply testifies to its salubrity. 
On the upper tributaries of the Amazon we ap- 
proach a more humid and truly tropical climate, 
still, however, with a general immunity from malaria. 
Moreover, that insect pest, the mosquito — which Pro- 
▼idence seems to send as a warning to indicate danger 
—is very rarely met with, while the land leech so 
troublesome in India, is never seen here. 
The rainfall in the great Montana districts seems 
ample for all purposes. The nature of the 
vegetation sufficiently indicates this, though neither 
here nor elsewhere in Peru has ever any record been 
kept of the actual amount of rainfall, nor as far as 
we can ascertain, has such a thing as a rain-gauge 
ever been introduced into the country. The tem- 
perature of the Perene Valley is very much the 
same as that of Kandy, the central capital of Ceylon, 
viz., 70° to 850. The climate, however, is evidently 
much healthier, and much less windy. No bare brown 
ridges here indicate the drift of monsoons. Every 
mountain side is uniformly clothed in majestic trees, 
above and below all being strikingly calm and silent. 
SOIL. 
It need scarcely be said that there is a very great 
variety of soil in Peru, where the geological character- 
istics are so exceptionally varied ; and, as soils 
partake of the nature of the rocks from the 
decomposition of which they originate, it may 
readily be inferred that, in a country so rich m 
those minerals which form a peculiarly valuable 
food for plants, the soil is largely impregnated with 
substances which have a most marked and beneficial 
effect upon the vegetation. 
The prevailing character of the soil on the Montana 
is a deep rich loam, naturally so rich in humus that all 
that is required is the simplest tillage. Even on the 
coast where all appears to be driven sand, cultivation 
seems at once to change its appearance and character, 
and no manuring is ever dreamed of. 
On the steep mountain slopes, where, up to 12,000 
feet, the ancient " Inca " terraces are still to be seen, 
and where the industrious and healthy " Ohola " still 
grows his splendid wheat, barley and potatoes, the soil 
18 marvellously rich and deep. Six to eight feet of dark 
mould may frequently be seen on a bed of conglome- 
rate, and again a stratum of dark vegetable soil below. 
On the great " Pajonals "— corresponding to our 
" Patnas " in Oeylou— where the forest abruptly ceases 
and a treeless sward of rather poor grass supervenes, the 
soil is a stiff infertile clay. These Pajonals occasionally 
crop out in the great sea of forest, the extent varying 
from a few- hundred to a thousand acres; and if they do 
not enhance the intrinsic value of the land, they do add 
much to Uie natural beauty of the scenery. The soil of 
these forest lands is generally speaking, all that could 
be desired for the tropical products at present most 
in demand, such as;— Coffee, cocoa, coca, coconut, 
nutmegs, pepper, cinchona, cinnamon, cardamoms, 
rice ruljl;er, sugar cane, sago, tea, tobacco, vanilla, A'c. 
And speaking more particularly of what we have 
sneciallv cxaiiiinedin the valleys of Paucartambo and 
Peronc for a distance of from .50 to (10 miles, the 
nature 'of the soil is not only unquestionably suitable, 
but is specially well adapted, for the permanent pro- 
duction of any or all of the products above enumerated. 
VKOETATION. 
In writing of the vegetation of a country, where the 
luxuriunce is such llial Ni..tnrc in sheer wantonness 
BcciiiM to run riot, it is diflicult to keep withm the usual 
bQuadd (jl m gllicif'l Hepyrt. 
There are perhaps few countries where first impres- 
sions prove more at fault ihat in Peru. 
Few who sail along the coast could imagine the 
luxuriance of the Valleys of Chiclayo, Chicama, 
Cartavio, Chimbote, or the Rimac. Few who 
travel by the Central Railway, and look upon the 
apparently bare brown hills, could conceive the 
cereal and floral wealth which clothes and adorns 
them. We were particularly struck with this in climb- 
ing a few thousand feet above the Matucana Station, 
where the hills look so bleak in the distance, yet, 
where nearly all the most prized flowers of our British 
gardens cover the rugged ground in their native pro- 
fusion. 
And these modest little plants have their uses 
beyond the mere gratification of the florist and bota- 
nist. In an economic sense their presence sufficiently 
indicate where other products, more valuable com- 
mercially, might also best be grown. At the same 
time they indicate the altitude more correctly than 
some of our Aneroids. The Ageratum, for instance, 
so formidable an enemy to us when coffee was at its 
best in Ceylon, serves here to show a soil suitable 
for " the fragrant berry," though the locality may not 
in other respects be convenient. Acres of luxuriant 
Heliotrope scent the air, testifying that — though at a 
height of over 8,000 feet — we are still safe from frost. 
The more hardy Calceolarias come next, and with 
the curious Cuphea, the red and the blue Salvia 
flourish up to 10,000 feet. After these the chief re- 
presentative is the blue Lupine, beds of which may 
be seen covering thousands of acres up to 12,000 or 
13,000 feet, leaving a few Sedums, Anemones and 
Dandelions, to dispute the limit of 16,000 feet with 
the snow. 
From 8,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level, wheat, 
barley and potatoes grow to great perfection, while 
the oat is a wild weed, giving, when ripe, a 
yellow tinge to whole mountain ranges where the 
feet of man never tread. 
The cultivation, such as it is here, is laborious 
enough, and is hardly suited to our European ideas 
of husbandry. To scramble over the miles of pre- 
cipitous paths leading to these terraced fields of a 
few yards in breadth seems a day's work in itself ; 
but the merest scratch in the shape of ploughing is 
sufficient, and such is the richness of the soil that 
no manuring is ever necessary to grow heavy crops 
of grain and excellent potatoes, oca (oxalis), &c. 
Europe has already been ii-. cbted to Peru for many 
valuable acquisitions to the field and garden, and 
there is still to be introduced a potato, unquestionably 
superior as a food to anything of the kind now grown 
in Britain. 
From 12,000 to 14,000 feet altitude barley continues 
to grow luxuriantly, but ceases to mature its gi-ain. 
The Alfalfa as it is here called, grown so ex- 
tensively froi)i the coast up to and over 10,000 feet, 
is really a native of England. The Lucerne (Medicago 
Hativa), so well known to our forefathers, has here 
in Peru become the most productive and nutritious 
of all fodders for cattle. On the mountain 
plateau, which extends for hundreds of miles, the 
rains seem somewhat fitful and uncertain, but not 
more so than in most parts of Australia ; and it is 
curious to note how kindly Australian trees, chiefly 
the Eucalypti, take to this climate, growing with great 
luxuriance wherever planted. Amongst the rest of the 
somewhat scanty \ egetation here, we observed the 
Elder, and by the watercourses the Alder, both natives 
of Britain. Again, amongst the native trees a very 
beautiful and useful evergreen willow (Salix Huviholdti- 
nr) abounds, a tree that would be a great acquisi- 
tion to Ceylon, North Burma, India, &c. We will 
now nass over these rather grassy 'ands, on the eastern 
side ot the Cordilleras (upon which llamas, alpacas, 
vicunas and eheep seem to find ample pasturage), and 
after a journey of about 60 miles N.E. from Tarma, 
plunge at once into the primeval forest, at an altitude 
of 4,000 feet. 
The first thing tliat struck us was the marvellous 
variety of the gigantic trees. In most other countries 
large groups of the same family are found growing up 
together ; such as Pines in North America, Gums in 
Australia, &c. Here diversity is the rule, and seldoin 
