HORTICULTURAL MISSION TO CHINA. 



217 



Canton, was equally at fault, so that every thing 

 was up-hill work with us. However, by examin- 

 ing everj' hole and corner of the city and suburbs, 

 and sometimes getting the boys who were less 

 jealous than the rest, to assist us, we tliscovered 

 several nurseries which contained large collections 

 of plants, many of which were quite new and 

 very ornamental. I was also much assisted by H. 

 M. Consul, Captain Balfour, who was always ready 

 and willing to aid me in my pursuits. Amongst 

 other things a very valuable collection of Tree 

 PiBonies was obtained at this time. 



<' It was now the depth of winter, and as vege- 

 tation was leafless, it was impossible to make any 

 thing like a complete collection until the follow- 

 ing year, when the plants would be covered with 

 leaves and flowers. I therefore packed up the 

 things which I had already secured, and sailed for 

 Ningpo on my way to the south. 



" Here I had the same difficulties to encounter 

 as I had at Shanghae, owing to the jealousy of the 

 Chinese. Ultimately, however, I discovered se- 

 veral mandarins' gardens and nurseries, from which 

 I made additions to my collections. All these 

 things were of course out of flower, and some of 

 them leafless at this season of the year; but it will 

 be seen afterwards that many of them proved most 

 remarkable plants. Here, as at most other places, 

 I made many inquiries after the supposed Yellow 

 Camellia, and oflered ten dollars to any Chinaman 

 who would bring me one. Any thing can be had 

 in China for dollars .' and it was not long before 

 two plants were brought to me, one of which was 

 said to be light yellow, and the other as deep as 

 the Double Yellow Rose. Both had buds upon them, 

 but neither were in flower. I felt quite certain 

 that the Chinaman was deceiving me, and it seem- 

 ed so foolish to pay such a sum for a plant which 

 I woulil, in all probability, throw away afterwards, 

 and yet I could not lose the chance slight as it was, 

 of possessing the Yellow Camellia. Moreover, 

 there was a written label stuck in each pot, both 

 of which were old, and apparently the labels and 

 writing had been there for some years. At last 

 we compromised the matter; I agreeing to pay 

 half of the money down, and the other half after 

 the plants had flowered. On these conditions I 

 got the Camellias, and took them with me to Hong 

 Kong. It is almost needless to say, that when 

 they flowered, nothing was yellow about them 

 but the stamens, for they were both semi-double 

 worthless kinds. 



" I now hired a Chinese boat, and crossed over 

 to Chusan, where I arranged my collections and 

 sailed for the south, arriving at Hong Kong on the 

 19th of January, 1844. My chief object now was 

 to get cases made, and my collections packed and 

 shipped for England. About eighteen cases were 

 sent home in three different shii)s about this time, 

 and several small packets of seeds were sent by 

 the overland mail. 



"As it was autumn when I was travelling in 

 the north of China, man}^ of the plants on the 

 hills were in seed, and it was impossible for me 

 to say whether their flowers were ornamental or 

 not. I made a selection, however, upon chance, 

 considering that there would be at least, some good 



28 



things amongst them, and that by this means a sea- 

 son would be gained. 1 did not intend them to be 

 given out to the country, until they were proved 

 at the garden, or until I could have an opportunity 

 of seeing them in bloom on the Chinese hills, and 

 of sending a description home. The seeds being 

 in ffood condition were soon raised, and unfortu- 

 nately many of them were given away which did 

 not prove at all ornamental. Others, however, 

 were really valuable things, amongst which I may 

 mention the Buddlea lindleyana, the Azalea ovata, 

 and the Cryptomeria japonica. 



" The plant cases to which I have already allu- 

 ded, contained amongst other things, the follow- 

 ing, many of which have been already given away 

 to the Fellows of the Society : 



Buddlea lindleyana, 

 Anemone japonica, 

 Lycoris radiata? 

 Daphne fortuni, 

 Forsythia viridissima, 

 Jasmjnura nudifiorum, 

 Weigela rosea, 



Chirita sinensis, 

 Arundina sinensis, 

 Spathog^lottis fortuni, 

 Fing:ered Citron, (true) 

 Campanula grandifiora, 

 Azalea oblusa, 

 ovata, 

 " squamata, 

 Abelia rupestris, 



Indigofera decora, 

 Cryptomeria japonica, 



and twelve or thirteen very fine new varieties of 

 the Tree PsaJony, having several shades of purple, 

 lilac, deep red, and white flowers. Besides these, 

 the cases contained a number of valuable plants 

 which have not flowered, and about which little 

 is at present known. 



" While I was waiting in the south of China 

 for the dispatch of the collections just noticed, I 

 took the opportunity of visiting Canton and Macao 

 attwo different times, and saw the Camellias, 

 Azaleas, Moutans, and other plants in bloom. The 

 gardens of the Hong merchants and the nurseries 

 at Fa-tee, are particularly gay during the spring 

 months with these flowers. The Moutans are 

 yearly brought down from the north to Canton, 

 where they flower shortly afterwards, and are 

 then discarded as useless, as the climate of the 

 south of China is too hot for them; this trade, 

 therefore, is not unlike that of Dutch hyacinths 

 in Europe. 



" The mountains near Canton, which I visited 

 in company with the late Mr. Lay, as well as tliose 

 of Hong Kong, were very gay at this season with 

 the flowers of the beautiful Enkianthus reticulatus, 

 Azalea squamata, and various other species. This 

 part of China, however, had little to increase my 

 collections, and on the 26th of March I started 

 again for the northern provinces. 



' The whole of this season was spent in tlie 

 Chusan, Ningpo, and Shangliae districts, my prin- 

 cipal object being to see all the plants of these 

 places in flower, and to mark those which I want- 

 ed for seed. In ortler to do this effectually, I was 

 obliged to visit each district three or four times 

 during the summer and autumn. 



<' The Flora of Chusan, anil all over the main 

 land in this part of China, is very different from 

 those portions of the south which I have already 

 described. Almost all the species of a tro|)ical 

 character have entirely disappeared, ami in their 

 places we finil others related to things found in the 

 temperate parts of the world. I here met, for the 

 first time, the beautiful Glycine sinensis, wild on 



