82 CHINESE GARDENS. 



CHINESE GARDENS. 



Dk. Mayen, in his Reiseum die Erde, observes these are of a peculiar 

 character, and differ altogether from ours in their arrangements ; while 

 the care bestowed on them by their possessors exceeds anything of which 

 we could have formed an idea. To each brancli, often even to each leaf 

 of a tree or a shrub, the utmost pains are taken to give the appro- 

 priate turn, and the gardeners may be seen sitting constantly beside tlie 

 plants, and employed in binding and pruning them, in order to accom- 

 plish the desired form. The production of the greatest variety and 

 contrast of colours is the chief object of the Cliinese flower-gardeners. 

 Strangers to refinement and the tender emotions, the Chinese have no 

 taste for the pure and tranquil enjoyment which the perfumes of sweet- 

 scented flowers yield. It is only in gaudy colours, and by a mar- 

 vellous skill in developing singular growths, that the Chinese gardener 

 excels. Long and straight alleys run directly through their gardens, 

 and are bordered by low trees of one and the same species. We visited 

 these gardens (in the vicinity of Canton) in the month of November, 

 and remarked the following objects : close to the entrance were large 

 masses of Chrysanthemums, tlie blossoms of which had attained an 

 extraordinary size. Then followed whole plots of Citrons and Shad- 

 docks, which were raised in pots and loaded with fruit ; and it wa.s 

 remarkable that all these fruits were divided into segments, and thus 

 formed permanent monstrosities, which were furtlier propagated by 

 grafts. It is by such mis-growth that they acquire a finger-shaped 

 appearance, which occurs also occasionally in our conservatories. In 

 Cliina these fruits are cultivated assiduously, not only for tlie adorn- 

 ment of the gardens, but also for the sake of the well-known Chinese 

 preserved Citron, of which large quantities come to us by commerce. 

 For this purpose they use chiefly the smaller fruits, tliree or four inches 

 long, wliich are boiled in refined sugar. The larger fruits of mon- 

 strous shape are of the Sliaddock kind, and often from ten to eleven 

 inches long, M'hile the several segments extend singly in all directions. 

 In the gardens these odd-shaped fruits, as well as the sweet Oranges, 

 with whicii whole plots are planted, have a neat appearance, as they do 

 not allow any trunk to form, but force them at once to spread into 

 branches. Large borders are to be seen planted with Camellia Ja- 

 ponica, and others with Cockscombs, some with white, others with 

 yellow or red flowers ; the yellow-flowered plants had shot particu- 

 larly high, and they were so arranged tliat all the plants in a bed were 

 of one and the same colour. We also saw in the gardens a species of 

 Scilla, very like Sc. maritima, which showed the same sort of mon- 

 strosity as the Cockscomb. We observed Bamboos in pots, the stems 

 of which were two or three feet high, and were wound into a spiral 

 form fi'om below upwards. Among the trees were the Lee-chee, 

 Banana, Averrhoa carambola and various Palms, on the stems of 

 which Epidendrums were trained. The ponds of these gardens, some 

 of which were very large, contain beautiful fish, which are fed by a 

 disgusting but common method among the Chinese, which is said to 

 render them very plump. The stools in the pleasure-houses are, for 

 the most part, of a coarse sort of porcelain, or they are formed of large 



