St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-03-07


THE scene is laid in Rota, the least
l of these beautiful villages which
form a wide semi-circle about the
Bay of Cadiz; but, although it is the
least, it is by no means insignificant.
The duke of Osuna, bearing the title
OF duke of ARGOS, wore it among the
pearls of his crown long ago, and had
there his ducal castle, which l could
describe stone by stone.
But we are not speaking now of
castles nor OF dukes, but of the cele-
brated fields which radiate from
Rota; and particularly of very hum
BILE gardener, whom we will call Uncle
Buscobeatas, although that was not
his real name.
The fields OF Rota are so productive
that, aside from contributing to the
duke Of Osuna many thousands bush
els of grain and furnishing wine for
the entire population, they supply
fruit and vegetables to Cadiz, often
to Huelva, and occasionally even to
Seville. This is especially true of
pumpkins and cabbage, whose excel
lent quality, surprising abundance
and consequent cheapness evoke the
highest praise-insomuch that in
lower Andalusia they dub the in
habitants of Rota "pumpkin-raisers"
and ''cabbage-raisers," which they &C.
cept with noble pride.
And in truth they have reason to be
proud of such encomiums, for those
gardens of Rota which are so pro-
ductive, the land which produces both
for consumption and expectation,
that land which yields three or four
harvests a year, is not earth at all,
but pure, clean sand. 1t is ceaselessly
expelled by the turbulent ocean, is
whirled away by the furious western
winds, and scattered all over the dis
trict of Rota, like the ashes in the
vicinity of Vesuvius.
But the incessant toll of man more
than compensates for the ingratitude
of Nature. do not believe that in all
the world there is a laboring man
who tolls so much as the Rotanese.
water flows through those melan-
choly fields. What does it matter?
The pumpkin-raiser perforates his
fields with wells, from which he
draws out-here by hand, there by
buckets-the precious fluid which
serves as blood to the vegetables. The
principles of fertilization are also
wanting in sand. What does it mat
ter? The tomato-raiser passes half
his life seeking and removing sub
stances which will serve as guano.
converting even the sea-weeds into
manure! Once possessed of these two
precious elements, the son OF Rots
proceeds patiently to fertilize not his
entire estate, but little circles OF
ground as large as a small plate; IN
each of these fortified circles he
sows a grain of tomato or pumpkin
seed. which he then waters from Il
small jar, just as one would give {.
drink to little child.
From the time of planting until the
harvest, he tends the plants daily, one
nv one, treating them with the fond
ness and pains comparable only to
the solicitude of spinster for her
f]ower-pots. Now he adds little
handful of manure; now he pours on
a little stream of water; now he
clears them of caterpillars and other
insects; now he cares for the lnf1rm,
splinting the fractures and placing
h,,lwarks of sand and straw beside
those which cannot resist the rays OF
the sun or the blasts of the wind. He
commits the stems, the leaves, the
flowers and the fruit of the most
and talks to them, kisses
them. blesses them, and even gives
them expressive names to distinguish
them in his mind.
This is no exaggeration. 1t is al
ready a saying (and l have heard it
many times in Rota) that the garden
er Of that country touches no less
than 40 times with his own hand
every single plant which he raises in
his garden. And this explains why
the old gardeners of that locality go
about bent double, until their boards
touch their knees. 1t is the posture
in which they have spent their noble,
lives.
Well then, Uncle Buscobeatas be-
1onped to the class of gardeners I
have just described. He was always
bent double, having reached the age
If 60 wears. For 40 years he had titled
4 garden bordering on the port OF
Costilla.
That year he had raised some i'm
mense pumpkins, as large as the
decorative globes on the monumental
bridge. 1t was about the middle of
+be month of June, and they were al
ready taking on the color OF the
orange within and without. Uncle
knew them perfectly
by their form, by their degree OF ms
turity and by name-especially the 40