218 



HORTICULTURAL MISSION TO CHI.VA, 



the hills, whore it rlimhs in heil^os and on trees, ] 

 anil allows i(s lloworinfr biunclios 1<> luuif; in grace- 

 ful f«"stoons, by llie sides of the narrow roads 

 which lead across the nioiiiitaiiis. 'I'he Ficusnili- 

 da, so eomnion around all the temples anil houses 

 in the >)<)ulli, ia here unknown, and many of those 

 beautiful Uowerinp grenera, which, as I have be- 

 fore rcmarkeil, are only found on the top of the 

 mountains in Hong- Konpr, here have chosen less 

 exalted situations; I allude more jiarticularly to 

 the Azaleas which abound on the hill-sides of this 

 island. Most ])ersons have seen and admired the 

 Azaleas which are yearly brought to the Chiswick 

 fetes, and which as individual specimens surpass, in 

 most instanccSjthose which grow and bloom on their 

 native hills; but few can form anj- idea of the gor- 

 geous and striking beauty of these Azalea-clad 

 mountains, w^here on every sitle, as far as our vision 

 extends, the eye rests on masses of flowers of ilaz- 

 zling brightness anil surjiassing beauty. Nor is it 

 Azaleas alone which meet the eye and claim our 

 attention: Clematises, wild Roses, Honeysuckles, 

 tlic Glycine sinensis, noticed above, and a hun- 

 dred other things, mingle their flowers with them, 

 and make us confess, that after all, China is indeed 

 the ' central flowery land.' There are several 

 species of IMyrtaceous and other Ericaceous 

 plants, which are also common on the hills, but no 

 species of heath has been ever found; and I be- 

 lieve the genus docs not exist in thi spart of China. 



<'Thc Tallow tree (f^tillingia sebtf'tra,) is abun- 

 dant in the valleys of Chusan, and large quantities 

 of tallow and oil are yearly extracted from its 

 seeds. The Laurus camphora, or Camphor tree, is 

 also common, and attains a very large size, but, so 

 far as I know, no camphor is extracted or exjiort- 

 ed from the island. Thea viridis, the Green Tea 

 shrub, is cultivated in some parts rather extensive- 

 ly; but if we except a small quantity of tea which 

 is annually sent over to Ningpo and the adjoining 

 towns on the main land, the whole of the produce 

 is used by the natives themselves. Every small 

 farmer and cottager has a few plants on his own 

 premises, which he rears with considerable care, 

 but seems to have no wish to enter on its cultiva- 

 tion on a larger scale for exportation. Indeed it 

 is questionable if it would pay, as the soil is 

 scarcely rich enough; and although the shrub 

 grows pretty well, it is far from being so luxuriant 

 as it is in the larger tea-districts of the mainland, 

 which I afterwards visited. 



" The forests of different varieties of Bamboo 

 are very striking, and give a kind of tropical cha- 

 racter to the scenery of this part of the countrj'. 

 I do not know any thing more beautiful than the 

 Yellow Bamboo, with its clean straight stems and 

 graceful tops and branches waving in the breeze; 

 it always reminded me of our young larch forests 

 in England. The Pinus sinensis noticed in the 

 south is also common here: it seems to be an ex- 

 ception to the general rule, being found over all 

 the country, and in every degree of latitude. The 

 Cunninghamia sinensis is also found in abundance; 

 and besides these, there are several species of Cy- 

 press and Juniper found growing around the tombs 

 of the rich, which are scattered over the valleys 

 and hill-sides. 



"The fruits of Chusan are of very little impor 

 tanee; nearl_\ all the jieaches, grapes, pears, plums, 

 oranges, iVc, which are seen in the summer sea- 

 son in the markets, are brought from the main 

 land. There are two fruits, however, cultivated 

 on the island, which are of considerable excel- 

 lence; the one is called by the Chinese laJig-wKK'; 

 it is a scarlet fruit not unlike an arbutus or straw- 

 berry, but having a stone like a i)luni in its centre; 

 the other is tlie Kiim-qi/at, a small species of citrus, 

 about the size of an oval gooseberry, with a sweet 

 rind and a sharp acid pul)). 



" The new plants of the island were seen In 

 flower this season for the first time. Early in the 

 spring, the hill-sides were covered with a beauti- 

 ful Daphne, (Daphne fortuni.) and the Azale.i 

 ovata, certainly one of the finest and most distinct 

 species which I have introduced. Weigela rosea, 

 one of the most beautiful shrubs of northern China, 

 which was first met with in the garden of a man- 

 darin near the city of Ting-hae on this island, was 

 this spring loaded with its noble rose-colored flow- 

 ers. Ruddlea lindleyana was also seen this year 

 in great perfection growing in the hedges on the 

 hill-sides, often side by side with the Glycine si- 

 nensis. 



" Ningpo is about forty miles west of Chusan, 

 and is situated on the main land. My visits here, 

 at difierent times during this summer, were attend- 

 ed with much less difliculty than in the jireceding 

 autumn. I was now beginning to speak a little 

 Chinese, and was perfectly acquainted with the 

 town, and the whole of the places where the dif- 

 ferent mandarins' gardens and nurseries were situa- 

 ted. This was of much importance, as I was able 

 to save so much time, which used to be formerly 

 spent in fruitless in(|uiries. The mandarins were 

 particularlj' inquisitive at this time about every 

 thing which related to the movements of the Eng- 

 lish or other foreigners, who were likely to esta- 

 blish themselves at their port; and as we were 

 able to keep up a conversation in Chinese, I soon 

 found that my frequent visits were verj- agreeable 

 to them. The nursei-ymen, too, having found, I 

 supi)ose, that my money was as valuable to them 

 as that which they received from their own coun- 

 trymen, were no longer shy, but most anxious to 

 sell me any plants which I wanted. 



" The gardens of the mandarins, although small, 

 were extremely gay, particularly during the early 

 months of the year; and what was of more im- 

 portance to me, contained a number of new plant.^ 

 of great beauty and interest. On entering one of 

 the gardens on a fine morning in May, I was stiuclc 

 with a mass of yellow flowers which completely 

 covered a distant part of the wall; the color was 

 not a common j-cllow, but had something of buflF 

 in it, which gave the flowers a striking and un- 

 common appearance. I immediately ran up to tJie 

 place, and to my surprise and delight found that I 

 liad discovered a most beautiful new yellow climb- 

 ing rose. I have no doubt, from what I afterwards 

 learned, that this rose is from the more northern 

 districts of the Chinese empire, and will prove 

 perfectly hardy in Europe. Another rose, which 

 the Chinese call the ' five-colored,' was found in 

 one of these gardens at this time; it belongs to 



