It is, with mandioca, the great food of all South and Central America and Mexico, grows under almost any conditions, apparently, and while the seed is seldom carefully selected, strongly marked varieties of prolific habit are found in Brazil, the red, white and yellow all yielding well. It is found in patches outside every little hut, and in enormous fields in Central Brazil. In spite of the large importation of wheat nowadays to satisfy the more luxurious tastes of the cities, Brazil could not live without maize. Rye is grown by the Russians of the southern colonies, and the south also produces a limited quantity of oats and barley. FIBRES Among the fibres of Brazil which are offered extensive markets is the wonderful _paina_, known in European markets as kapok, which is thirty-four times lighter than water and fourteen times lighter than cork. Produced chiefly in the Orient, its qualities were many years ago appreciated by German manufacturers who were until recently the largest purchasers of the fibre, using it for life-belts, mattresses, etc. Today an unsatisfied demand for kapok comes from the _Société Industrielle et Commerciale du Kapok_ of Paris and London, which is said to expect enormous calls after the close of the war, when rehabilitated Belgium and northern France will need pillows, mattresses, coverlets, and quantities of other things with the qualities of lightness, warmth, elasticity and impermeability possessed by this renowned fibre. At present world supplies come from Java (best fibre, cleanest, best packed), British India, an inferior grade, as is also that of Central Africa and Senegal; a few years ago, at the suggestion of Germans interested in Venezuelan railways, the kapok tree was introduced there; but when the cotton was sent to Europe it was rejected on account of its condition “the greater part of the bales containing stones, refuse, etc., which sometimes amounted to thirty per cent of the total weight; thus, in spite of the fine quality of Venezuelan kapok, French importers were obliged to cease purchases,”—a lesson for careless exporters. Many parts of Brazil display this beautiful tree. When the writer was first in Petropolis, in bright May weather, the avenues of that mountain city were gay with the large bright pink flowers of this grey-trunked, spreading exotic. Later, when the bolls ripen, the fibre is collected, sold by the kilo over many counters throughout the country, and used locally for stuffing pillows and cushions.