HORTICULTURAL MISSION TO CHINA. 



219 



to tlie section commonly called China Roses in this 

 country, but sports in a very strange and beautiful 

 manner. Sometimes it produces self-colored 

 blooms, being: either red or French wliite, and 

 freciuently having flowers of both on one plant at 

 the same time, while at other times the flowers 

 are striped with the colors already mentioned. 

 This will also be as hardy as our common China 

 rose. Glycine sinensis is often grown on a ilat 

 trellis in front of the summer house, or forms a 

 kind of portico, which affords a pleasing shade 

 from the burning rays of the summer's sun. En- 

 twined with one of these trees, I found another 

 variety, having very long racemes of pure white 

 flowers, which contrasted well with the light blue 

 of the other. I immediately asked permission 

 from the old Chinese gentleman to make some 

 layers of this fine plant, and I am happy to say that 

 one of these is now alive in the garden at Chis- 

 wick. 



"After seeing the difTerent gardens and nurse- 

 ries in the town, I generally left Ningpo for the 

 hills in the district. The natives in this part of 

 the country, as I have already stated, are quite a 

 different race from those in the south, and perfect- 

 ly harmless in their dispositions: I have often re- 

 sided amongst their mountains for weeks at a time, 

 anil never had any reason to complain of the treat- 

 ment I received at their hands. The temple of 

 Tein-tung, a large monastic building situatetl 

 amongst the green tea hills, about twenty miles 

 from Ningpo, was a favorite place of resort, ow- 

 ing to the peculiar richness of the vegetation in 

 this part of the country. Here many of the trees 

 and shrubs, which were only found in gardens 

 in other places, were wild on the hills and in 

 the hedges. The Forsythia already named, was 

 common on the road-sides, and was covered with 

 its bright 3'ellow flowers in early spring. Seve- 

 ral species of Viburnum of great beauty, and one 

 Hydrangea, were also met with here, besides all 

 the other plants which have been already noticed 

 as abounding on the hills of Chusan. Cryptomcria 

 japonica formed one of the most beautiful anil state- 

 ly trees which are fountl on the hill-siiles; it grows 

 about as tall as a common pine, the stems are per- 

 fectly straight, its branches hang drooping down 

 in a most graceful manner, anil altogether it is 

 not unlike the Auracarias of Norfolk Island, or 

 Brazil, but probably much more hardy. The wood 

 possesses great strength and durability, and is 

 highly prized by the higher classes amongst the 

 Chinese. Paulownia imperialis, Lilium japoni- 

 cum, and several other well known Japanese plants, 

 are also indigenous to this part of China, which 

 shows that the vegetation of the two countries 

 must be very much alike. 



"I arrived at Shanghae this year on the ISth of 

 April, and spent two or three weeks there, at dif- 

 ferent times, during the season. My principal 

 object was to see all the plants in the different nor- 

 thern districts as they came into flower, and it was 

 therefore necessary that I should stay as short a time 

 as possible in one place at one time. I have already 

 mentioned that I purchased a collection of Tree 

 Pfconies during my first visit in the winterof LS43 

 which were said to be very splendid things, and en- 



tirely different in color from any of the kind which 

 were Ifnovvn in England. The history of this pur- 

 chase is rather amusing, and affords a curious 

 example of the kind of duplicity Avhich I had to 

 contend with. I had drawings with me of vari- 

 ous Moutan Peonies, which werfe said to exist in 

 the country : and when these were shown to a 

 Chinese nurseryman in Shanghae, he said he could 

 get them, but that they were only to be procured 

 at a place called Soo-chou, distant nearly a hun- 

 dred miles, and that it would be rather expensive 

 to bring them down. I asked him how many 

 kinds there were, what were the colors of their 

 flowers, and finally expressed a wish to have a 

 certain number of each. lie told me very grave- 

 ly, that he would undertake to send to Soo-chou 

 for them, providing I would pay him at the rate 

 of a dollar for each plant. I was too anxious to 

 get them to make any objections to the price, 

 which, after all, was not much out of the way, if 

 they were to be brought about a hundred miles. 

 In the stipulated time, the plants were delivered 

 to me in excellent order, and the money was paid. 

 They were then taken down to Hong Kong, and 

 dispatched to England, where they arrived in very 

 fair condition. I had, of course, no opportunity 

 of seeing their flowers at that time, and was now, 

 (April, 1844,) anxious to get some more in flower, 

 and intended to send my old friend back again to 

 Soo-chou for another collection, stipulating, how- 

 ever, this time, that all the plants should be in flow- 

 er, in order that I might have an opportunity of 

 seeing their colors. One morning, however, as I 

 was going out into the countrj',a short distance from 

 Shr.nghae, I was surprised by meetin"^ a country- 

 man with a load of Moutans in full bloom. The 

 flowers were very large and fine, and the colors were 

 dark purples, lilacs, and deep reds, kinds of which 

 the very existence was alwaj's doubted in England, 

 and which are never seen at Canton. Dr. Lockhart, 

 an excellent Chinese scholar, being with me at 

 the time, we soon found out the name of the Mou- 

 tan district; and from the state of the roots in the 

 mans basket, I was quite certain that the plants 

 had not been more than an hour or two out of the 

 ground, and that, therefore, the distance from 

 Shanghae could not exceed six or eight miles, a 

 surmise which we afterwards found to be perfect- 

 ly correct. This was, doubtless, the place where 

 my nursery friend had procured his plants in the 

 autumn before, and where he would have gone 

 again, had I not been lucky enough to fimi that I 

 could easily go there myself. Indeed, I afterwards 

 discovered there was no Moutan country in the 

 vicinity of Soo-chou, having met a man from that 

 place in the Shanghae district, where he had come 

 for the express purpose of buj'ing Tree Paionies 

 to take home. I was now out in the Moutan dis- 

 trict daily, during the time the different plants 

 were coming into bloom, and secured some most 

 striking and beautiful kinds for the Horticultural 

 Society. 



"Several very distinct and beautiful Azaleas 

 were added to my collections during this summer 

 at Shanghae, as well as many other plants of an 

 ornamental character, which have not yet been 

 described. Many of these things arc expected to 



