THE COTTAGE GABDENEB. 
I 
I 
April 8. 
U 
Dr. Young and I have often gone in the woods in search of 
it, since which time I have seen vast quantities of it in the 
interior parts of the island. It propagates itself plentifully 
from seeds, and is one of the most beautiful trees that 
ornament the West India woods. The trunk is generally 
very straight, and if it grows any distance from water, it 
seems to incline that way; it is twenty, and frequently 
thirty, feet high, and forms a beautiful head, very branching. 
The bark is brown, very succulent, by which means it is 
easily peeled oft’ the tree; the oldest trees have the bark 
more frangible than the younger. When immediately taken 
from the tree, if chewed, is of a sweetish bitter, but a little 
after the mouth turns exceedingly bitter, and will continue 
so for half-a-day; it is, at the same time, a little corrosive to 
the throat. Each twig of the tree is terminated by an 
umbel of whitish-purple flowers, which, when past their 
perfection, turn blue. 
They are succeeded with an oblong capsule, a little angu- 
lated towards the apex; when the seed is ripe it bursts 
open, and hangs on the tree in that gaping position for a 
long time, at least until the seeds are all dropped out of it. 
The seeds are small and winged. I never found it growing 
but on the margins of rivulets and water-courses towards 
the tops of the mountains. I have frequently seen it grow¬ 
ing in the middle of a run of water. I have only an im¬ 
perfect specimen of it by me at present, which I send you, 
with a description of the same. 
It is very difficult to preserve specimens here; the best 
way is to get good drawings of them, but this is a work that 
requires too much expense, time, and trouble for me to 
attempt it in my present situation. 
I have not as yet seen Lieutenant Miller, nor can I tell if 
I shall have the happiness to see him, as the fleet has not 
been here since the engagement with D’Estang. They 
generally rendezvous at Barbadoes, but I shall send the 
letter to him as soon as I can get a fit opportunity. 
The plants that I sent to you in April last, which you 
never got, were—1, Petrea volubilis, 2, Mimosa tergimmina, 
3, a beautiful shrub, which I take to be an undescribed 
species of the Lycium. They are all fine plants, and grow 
in plenty here, and I think they would flower very well in a 
hothouse, as they never grow tall. I shall send you young 
plants of them as soon as possible. 
I am at a great loss for want of books, as I lost all I had 
when taken prisoner. I have only at present, of my own, 
an old edition of the Genera Plantarum, and Species 
Plantarum that I borrowed for a short time. 
GOSSIP. 
We see that The Newcastle, Northumberland, and 
Durham Poultry Society have fixed their show day on 
Easter Monday, Ajiril the 12th. A very competent 
judge observes, upon the prize list issued by this 
society— 
“That one day is a time of too short continuance for the 
visitors to be well satisfied, and that if some of the poultry 
arrive as late as the morning of the same day, this will 
create some confusion. The society having grouped two 
hens to a cock is much better than three liens, as many 
first-rate stocks might find it difficult to find many hens at 
one time in exhibition condition and feather, The names of 
the judges are not specified : is this omission accidental or 
intentional ? The different spangled Polands are not to be 
rewarded, which we think is a mistake. In the third law, 
‘All specimens must bo bona fide the property of the ex¬ 
hibitor.' Would it not be better to name a period of pos¬ 
session, as has been done in the Birmingham prize lists, for 
this law would not prevent the exhibition of quite recent 
purchases. As a whole, the prize list is good and liberal.” 
Dr. Tschudi in his Travels in Peru, has the following 
particulars relative to its horticultural productions and 
practices:— 
The damp soil is favourable to potatoes, of which vast 
quantities are planted. There is a degenerate kind of 
potato, very abundant in Chiloe. On bisection it exhibits a 
greater or lesser number of concentric rings, alternately 
white and violet, sometimes all of the latter colour. It is 
well known that southern Chile is the native land of the 
potato. In Chiloe, and also in the neighbouring islands, 
potatoes grow wild; but, both in size and flavour, they are 
far inferior to the cultivated kind. Like the maize, they 
shoot up in large leaves and stalks. The climate is also 
very favourable to the different kinds of the cabbage plant; 
but peas and beans do not thrive there. Potatoes are not 
planted on the coast, where, it appears, the climate and the 
soil are unfavourable to them. In those parts they are 
small and watery. On the higher ridges, which intersect 
the coast at short distances from the sea, the potato grows 
wild. I am inclined to believe that the root is indigenous 
in these parts, as well as in Chiloe and Chile, and that the 
ancient Peruvians did not obtain tiiis root from the south, 
but that they removed it from their own high lands in order 
to cultivate it on a more favourable soil. The best potato 
grows about twenty-two leagues from Lima, in Huarnan- 
tanga, which is about 7000 feet above the level of the sea, 
to the north-west of the Quebrada of Canta. This potato 
is small and round, with a thin white skin, and when bisected 
the colour is a clear bright yellow. It is called the Papa 
amarilla, and there is much demand for it in the markets, 
where it fetches a good price. The other potatoes come 
chiefly from the Quebrada of Iluarochirin, and they are 
very well flavoured. 
To a stranger nothing can appear more extraordinary 
than their mode of ploughing. As to a regular plough, I do 
not believe such a thing is known in Chiloe. If a field is 
to be tilled, it is done by two Indians, who are furnished 
with long poles, pointed at one end. The one thrusts his 
pole, pretty deeply, and in an oblique direction, into the 
earth, so that it forms an angle with the surface of the 
ground. The other Indian sticks his pole in at a little 
distance, and also obliquely, and he forces it beneath that of 
his fellow-labourer, so that the first pole lies as it were above 
the second. The first Indian then presses on his pole, and 
makes it work on the other, as a lever on its fulcrum, and 
the earth is thrown up by the point of the pole. Thus they 
gradually advance, until the whole field is furrowed by this 
laborious process. 
The ladies of Lima recal pleasing recollections of the 
former glory of their Jlower market, and speak with regret 
of its present degenerate condition. The much vaunted 
pucheros de flores are still occasionally displayed for sale. 
They are composed of a union of fragrant fruits and flowers. 
Several small fruits are laid on a banana leaf, and above 
them are placed odoriferous flowers, tastefully arranged 
according to their colours ; the whole is surmounted with a 
strawberry, and is profusely sprinkled with agua rica, or 
lavender water. These pucheros are very pleasing to the 
eye, on account of the tasteful arrangement of the flowers ; 
but their powerful fragrance affects the nerves. They vary 
in price, according to the rarity of the fruits and flowers of 
which they are composed. Some cost as much as six or 
eight dollars. A puchcro de Jlores is one of the most accept¬ 
able presents that can be offered to a Lima lady. 
The cold climate and sterile soil of the Puna are for¬ 
midable impediments to agriculture. Only one plant is 
cultivated in these regions with any degree of success. It 
is the maca, a tuberous root grown like the potato, and, like 
it, used as an article of food. In many of tire Puna dis¬ 
tricts the maca constitutes the principal sustenance of the 
inhabitants. It has an agreeable, and somewhat sweetish 
flavour, and when boiled in milk it tastes like the chesnut. 
As far as I am aware, this plant has not been mentioned by 
any traveller, nor has its botanical character yet been precisely 
determined. Possibly it is a species of Tropieolum, but of 
this I am uncertain. The root is about the size of a large 
chesnut. Macas may be kept for more than a year, if, after 
being taken from the earth, they are left a few days to dry 
in the sun, and then exposed to the cold. By this means 
they become shrivelled and very hard. From these dried 
macas the tndians prepare a soup, or rather syrup, which 
diffuses a sweet sickly sort of odour, but which, when eaten 
with roasted maize, is not altogether unpalatable. The 
maca thrives best at the height of between 12,000 and 13,000 
feet above the sea. In the lower districts it is not planted, 
