until a portion of the ransom money was 

 paid. It seemed to have been a place of re- 

 sidence to manj^ of the mandarins and prin- 

 cipal merchants in peaceful times, and boast- 

 ed of its gardens and pretty tisa ponds. 

 When I first saw these gardens they were 

 mostly in a ruinous condition, and every- 

 where exhibited the fatal effects of war. 

 Many beautiful plants, however, still conti- 

 nued to grow and scramble over the Avails. 

 Captain Hall, of the Madras army, who was 

 stationed there for some time, was very fond 

 of botany, and took great plea.sure in point- 

 ing out to me all the plants which he met 

 with in his rambles. " I have good news 

 for 3'ou," said he, one morning when I met 

 him; " come with me and I shall show you 

 the most beautiful plant on the island, which 

 I have just discovered. It is a creeper, it 

 produces fine long racemes of lilac flowers 

 before it puts forth its leaves, and it is de- 

 liciousl}' fragrant." What could it be? was 

 it new.'' would it produce perfect seeds? or 

 could young plants be procured to send 

 home? were questions which rapidly sug- 

 gested themselves. It is only the enthusi- 

 astical botanical collector who can form an 

 idea of the amount of excitement and plea- 

 sure there is when one fancies he is on the 

 eve of finding a new and beautiful flower. 

 Captain Hall led the way, and we soon 

 reached the spot where the plant grew. 

 There had been no exaggeration in his de- 

 scription; there it was, covering an old wall, 

 and scrambling up the branches of the ad- 

 joining trees; it bore long racemes of Pea- 

 shaped flowers, and scented the surrounding 

 air with its odors. Need I say it was the 

 beautiful Glycine. But it was not found in 

 a wild state even at Amoy, and had evident- 

 ly been brought from more northern lati- 

 tudes. 



When I reached Chusan, in latitude 30" 

 north, I found a remarkable change in the 

 appearance of the vegetation. Tropical forms 

 had entirely disappeared, or were rarely met 

 with. Although the summers were as warm, 

 or even warmer, than they were in the south, 

 3^et the winters were nearly as cold as those 

 we have in England. On this ground, and 

 all over the provinces of Chekiang and 

 Kiangnan, the Glycine seemed to be at home. 

 It grew wild on every hill-side, scrambling 

 about in the hedges by the footpaths, and 

 hanging over and dipping its leaves and 

 flowers into the canals and mountain streams. 



But by far the most beautiful effect is pro- 

 duced when it attaches itself to the stems 

 and branches of other trees. This is not 



unfrequent in nature, and is often copied by 

 the Chinese and introduced into their gar- 

 dens. 



You can scarcely imagine anything more 

 gorgeous or beautiful than a large plant of 

 tliis kind in full bloom. Its main and larger 

 bi'anches are entwined round every branch 

 and branchlet of the tree; and from them 

 hundreds of small ones hang down until 

 they nearly touch the ground. The whole 

 of the branches are covered with flower- buds, 

 which a day or two of warm weather brings 

 rapidly forward into bloom. To form an 

 idea of the effect produced by these thou- 

 sands of long lilac racemes, you nmst 

 imagine, if you can, a floral cascade, or a 

 Weeping Willow covered Avith the flowers 

 of the Glycine. There are some large spe- 

 cimens of this kind on the island of Chusan. 

 One, in particular, was most striking. Not 

 content with inonopolising one tree, it had 

 scrambled ovei' a Avhole clump, and formed 

 a pretty arbor underneath. \Vhen I saw it 

 last, it was in full flow er, and had a most 

 charming appearance. 



The Chinese are fond of groM'ing the Gly- 

 cine on trellis-work, and forming long cover- 

 ed walks in the garden, or arbors and por- 

 ticos in front of their doors. In a former 

 letter I noticed a large specimen of this de- 

 scription in the garden of the British con- 

 sulate at Shanghae. There is another re- 

 markable one in the garden of a mandarin 

 atNingpo; growing in company Avith it is 

 the fine new variety introduced lately by 

 the Horticultural Society of London, and 

 published in the Journal of the Society. In 

 foliage and general habit the two kinds are 

 nearly alike, but the new one bears long 

 racemes of pure Avhite floAvers. The kind 

 old gentleman to whom the garden belonged 

 (he is dead now) allowed me to make layers 

 of this plant on the top of his house, and 

 during the summer months, when I Avas 

 travelling in other districts, attended to 

 them and watered them Avith his own hands. 

 When I saAV him about a year ago he told 

 me he was then nearly 80 years old. One 

 of the gentlemen Avho accompanied me (Dr. 

 Kirk, of Shanghae,) being introduced to 

 him as a medical man, was asked if he could 

 live for one year m.ore. The old man said 

 he kncAV he must die soon, but he was most 

 anxious to live for another year. His pre- 

 sentiment was but too correct, for the next 

 time I visited Ningpo, about six months af- 

 ter, I found the door of the mansion bricked 

 up, and the garden neglected and overrun 

 with weeds. — Gardeners^ Chronicle 



