422 BOTANICAL INFORMATION, 
high. It is frequently cultivated in fields and gardens, both 
for the beauty of the flower, and useful quality of its fruit. 
In favourable seasons the “ Mume” is covered with blos- 
soms early in February, and these are gathered and wreathed 
round the altars of the Idols, while the natives adorn all their 
dwellings with its blooming branches, as emblems of returning 
spring. In a wild state, the flowers are white, but they vary 
on eultivated trees with every shade of pink and red, and 
even sometimes partake of yellow and green. "The most es- 
teemed varieties of the tree are such as have double flowers, 
and they are grown, in a dwarf state, in gardens, round the 
houses, and even close to the temples. The richest collection 
of these varieties, amounting to several hundreds, belongs to 
Prince Tsikusen, and his kindness has allowed us to take 
drawings of the finest and scarcest sorts. It is incredible 
what a passion the Japanese have for dwarf trees, which 
renders the cultivation of the “ Mume,” one of the most - 
lucrative branches of horticulture in the empire. Grafting 
is the usual process, and this is sometimes accomplished in a 
manner which makes the branches droop towards the ground, 
like a weeping-willow. One of these curious specimens Was 
brought to us for sale by a merchant of growing plants, It 
was in flower, yet not quite 3 incheshigh. This chef d'ewvre 
of gardening skill was grown in a small painted box, made 
with three stories, similar to those for drugs, which the 
natives wear in their girdles. In the top row was the said 
* Mume ;" in the middle an equally diminutive fir; and at 
the bottom a bamboo, scarcely an inch and a half high. 
The * Mume" always figures in the legends of Japanese 
saints, poets, and illustrious men, and is even regarded as 
a sacred tree, pilgrimages being made to the ancient trunks, 
beneath whose shade the apotheosed Princes and Poets bad 
reposed, and chaunted their inspired lays. The small grafts 
obtained from such sacred trunks are held of equal value 3$ 
the parent trees. is 
In June the fruit is ripe, but when perfectly mature, the : 
taste becomes so insipid that it is more usual to pickle a 
