46 
however, do not admire the sharp and bitter taste. When 
salted the plums are often mixed with the leaves of Ocymum 
crispum, which gives them a red tint. The juice of the 
green fruit is used as a refreshing drink in fevers, and is also 
indispensable in preparing a beautiful light pink colour with 
Carthamus or Safllower. 
In good seasons the tree is in full flower in February, 
when the altars of idols, and dwelling-houses are every 
where decorated with its branches, which the Japanese 
regard as a symbol of the return of spring. The blossom of 
the wild plant is white, but there are cultivated varieties, 
with various shades of colour between white and red, and 
some are even green or slightly yellow. Double varieties are in 
most request, and dwarfed trees of that description are planted 
every where near dwellings and round the temples. The 
largest collection of these varieties, said to amount to several 
hundreds, is in the possession of the Prince of Tsikusen, to 
whose kindness we are indebted for drawings of some of the 
rarest kinds. The passion of the Japanese for dwarfed trees 
is inconceivable, and it is principally on that account that 
the cultivation of the Mume is one of the most common and 
profitable occupations of the country. They graft it by 
approach, and in this way obtain trees whose branches hang 
to the ground like those of a weeping willow. A dealer 
offered us in 1836 a bush in full flower, and scarcely three 
inches high. This prodigy of gardening was growing in a 
little varnished box with three steps, like the boxes of 
medicine which the Japanese carry at their girdle. In the 
upper step was the Mume, the next step was occupied by a 
Fir tree of similar smallness, and on the lower step was a 
Bamboo not above an inch and half high.— Flora Japonica, 
pp- 29, 31. | 
These details, adds Dr. Morren, were confirmed to me 
by Dr..v. Siebold himself, when he was at Ghent in 1844; 
he did not however confirm all the tales that are current as 
to the manner by which the Japanese succeed in dwarfing 
everything. It is said that they select the very smallest 
seeds, taken from the very smallest plants, two circumstances 
which are certainly quite rational and conformable to all the 
facts known to us in connection with varieties of race. No 
doubt indeed exists about the operation thus far; but the 
following assertions are much more apoeryphal. It is said, 
that as soon as the plants have germinated, the Japanese 
