1886.] 
the GARDEN. 
FRUITS OP THE AMAZON, 
iContimied from our last number.) 
CO-OA-Omo-SK-HA. 
This fnfltmuoh rosemblo.s the Cocoa Phmi 
in general appearance but is far bettor 
the pulp being sweet and pleasant. It is a 
tall tree often found overhanging the river 
on the middle Amazon and wo have i-opoat- 
cdly gathered it while paddling up the river 
GISNIPAPA (OICNIPA.) 
Of these are several species which produce 
brown fruit about the size of an Orano-o 
the flesh is yellowish white with small bard 
seeds, acid sweet but with a rank smell and 
not good. The juice of the unrii)e fruit of 
one species is used in tatooing by the In¬ 
dians, becoming indelible if pricked into 
the skin. 
PASSION FLOWKRS. 
Many of those produce edible fruits vary¬ 
ing in size from a Walnut to that of a Melon. 
When ripe they are orange yellow, a spongy 
tissue inside usually inclosing an acid pulp 
full of small black seeds; but Passijlora 
macrocarpa has a flesh resembling in color 
and taste a rich Musk-melou. These fruits 
are called “ Masacuja.” 
CACTUS. 
Two species of Cactus yield an edible 
fruit; they are tall with angular stems, one, 
Cereus Brasiliensis, being alw'ay.s a very ef¬ 
fective plant from its tall bluish green stems 
and numbers of large white night blooming 
flowers. The fruits are red, full of small 
seeds and of sweet pleasant taste. 
. TAPESIBA. 
From the delta at Para far up into Peru 
this is a favorite fruit. The tree Spondias 
lutea, is very ornamental with light green 
foliage and clusters of sweet white flowers. 
The fruit is yellow, acid and very pleasant 
but if taken in quantity makes the tongue 
and mouth sore. It is best infused in water 
and with the addition of a little sugar, 
makes a delicious drinlc. All wild anim.als 
are very fond of this.fruit and the vicinity of 
a Tapesiba in fmit is a good place for the 
hunter. Another species of this family S. 
bytheria, native of the Sandwich Islands, is 
sometimes found in gardens in Brazil. The 
fruit is larger, round and more acid and only 
used for sweetmeats. 
MIKIXI. 
A small tree producing a greonisli fruit 
which resembles in shape a small flat but¬ 
ton. In the season the ground is covered with 
this fruit which is sweetish and mealy and 
seems to be a food of the large blue butter¬ 
fly maspho which is always there found in 
great numbers. Two fruits especiall}' plenty 
on the river, Tapejos above Santarum are 
theASpiranga and the Uniri. The former 
is small, red, looking like a Sand Plum with 
^sweet pulp, the latter has a wider distribu- 
on and is the tree which produces the rich 
alsam of Umiri, it is a black drupe with a 
'■ich sweet taste. 
57 
flow armmd' f 
" ahnond-liko seed. 
to writroTii” ‘•'"fl wo have none 
Yuen” -m,i “Wisbi 
lowisli h'v ^lahi cusua ” both with yel- 
smooH brown witli 
nooth stone the latter black with deep fur- 
of 
upper river, and many others,'many gomT 
omo to 
none ake the place of the berries 
United States or 
rowed stone 
the “ 
u stone and both of delieious smell,, 
Cuma” and “Uiko” and “Pama” of tl 
of the 
are equal in flavor to a 
second rate Sti-awberry. k. Rand 
COUNTRY LIFE IN PRAHOE, 
1'ranee is literally one large garden, writes 
a coi-respondent of the Now York Sim. Every 
incli of soil is cultivated. In riding from 
Paris to Dijon, 160 miles, we counted only 
thirty cattle. VVe saw no sheep or hogs. 
The farms are usually from one to ten acres. 
Some farms have half an acre, and some have 
as many as twenty acres. They are usually 
30 to 300 feet wide, and from 1,600 to 
2,000 feet long. There are no fences be¬ 
tween them. 
always congi-egate in little, tumble-down 
villages situated about two miles apart. The 
roofs are moss-covered, the houses are dirty, 
and remind one of a country poorhouse in 
New England. 
There are millions of farms in France con¬ 
taining from a quarter of an acre to four 
acres. 1 find that an acre and a-half is 
about all the most ambitious man wants, 
riie rent for the land is always one-half the 
crop. The land is worth about .$400an acre; 
01 ', if in Grape vines, $000. 
That is why France is like a garden. In 
England there are 227,000 landowners ; in 
France there are 7,000,000 landowners. The 
Frenchman on his two acres, with his bare¬ 
footed wife cutting grain with a sickle by his 
side, is happy and contented, because he 
knows no better. Such a degrading life 
would drive an American farmer-mad. The 
Frenchman thrives because he spends noth¬ 
ing. He has no wants beyond the coarsest 
food and the washings of the Grape-skins af¬ 
ter the wine is made. Yet, he is thrifty. He 
saves money, too. The aggregated wealth 
of 30,000,OIX) poor, degraded, barefooted 
peasants make France rich. The ignorance 
of the French fai-mer is apalling. I never 
i saw a newspaper in a French farm village. 
When I asked a French farmer how his farm 
happened, like all the rest, to be so long and I Frenchman eats the coarsest food ; 
narrow, he said 
“ It has been divided up so often. When 
a French father dies he divides his farm, and 
each one of his children has an equal share. 
He always divides it lengthwise, so as to 
give each one a long strip.” 
“ How large is your farm ?” I asked. 
“ My father’s farm was 300 feet wide and 
2,000 feet long. When he died my brother 
had half. Now my farm is loOfeet wide and 
2,000 feet long. It is quite a large farm. 
There are many farms much smaller than 
mine.” 
What do you plant in it ?” I asked. 
about the same as he feeds his horse. He 
will eat coarse bread and wine for break¬ 
fast ; soup, bread and wine for dinner, and 
perhaps, bread and milk for supper; he 
does not know what coffee or tea is. The 
negros of the South live like kings compared 
to a French farmer. Still the Frenchman 
is satisfied, because he knows no better. 
GARDENINa IN JAPAN. 
Except in the gardens of the Buddhist Mon¬ 
astery of Hangtse in China, I have never 
seen anything approaching in singularity to 
these productions, but the gardeners of 
‘ See over there,” hesaid, pointing to what j Tokio are far more daring than the monks. 
seemed to be a gigantic piece of striped car¬ 
pet, “is a strip of Wheat sixty feet wide. 
Then comes a strip of Potatoes 25 feet wide. 
Then come 40 feet of Oats, then 10 feet 
of Carrots, 20 feet of Alfalfa (Luzerne) 10 
feet of Mangel wurzels, 5 feet of Onions, 
5 feet of Cabbage, and the rest in flowers. 
Peas, Currants, Gooseberries, and little 
vegetables.” 
“ Can you support your family on a farm 
150 feet wide .and 2,000 feet long ?” I asked. 
“Support my family?” he e.xclaimed. 
“Why the farm is too largo for us. I rent 
part of it out now.” 
“ But your house, ’ 
that?” 
“Oh, that is in town 
live in one house there, 
out every morning to work and go m at 
Does your wifealwa.ys work in the field?” 
“ Yes M:y wife,” he continued, pointmg 
to a barefooted and bareheaded woman at 
do more work than I can 
I s.aid, “ where is 
Five families of us 
My wife and I come 
Above Jefle on the Amazon and far in- 
a very delicious fruit abounds 
ed “ XJvas ” or Grapes from the resem- 
The ti-ee has very large 
he leaves and produces the fruit in 
Th^'r bunches close to the trunk. 
® fruit is black like an immense flat Grape 
she can 
She pitches the 
-- French women 
Sk^rthe field. Why not? They have 
ridnir to do at home. They do not 
has ,vives of American far- 
keep house 1. me ofl by 
mers. The n gardens, 
Bushes and shrubs, cut into the life-size 
resemblances of men and women, are equip¬ 
ped with faces of painted wood or paper, 
the clothes, fans or weapons being formed 
of carefully trained leaves and.flowers,which 
fail in artistic draperies of delightfully har¬ 
monized colors. In one scene a tree represents 
a monster fan, tivo others abridge with a ship 
passing underneath it, then a landscape 
with a picnic, and a setting sun of gold- 
colored Crysanthemums is wonderfully exe¬ 
cuted. Chinese women walking, and animals, 
especially hares and rabbits, are also repre¬ 
sented by this singular art. Scenes from 
well-known plays are the most endui-iugly 
popular of all these scenes, and one of the 
mythic heroes of Japan, shown in combat 
with an eight-headed monster, while the 
lady, for whom he is fighting, sits apart, _ 
clothed in red, yellow and w'hite Chrysan¬ 
themums, the wdiole forming a landscape 
over thirty feet long, is always the centre 
of joyous crowds in late October, when the 
sun is warm and the air is still.—IThfteafeii 
Tracks in Japan. 
MELONS nr SOUTH AMERICA. 
The Musk Melons gi-own here, writes our 
con-espondent, are not nearly as good as in 
the United States. And Watermelons, of 
which the variety chiefly grown resembles 
the Mountain Sprout, do not attain a large 
size, and in spite of the hot sun are lacking 
in sweetness and flavor. 
