CHINESE GAUDENING. 201 



prietor ; but they are generally .smaller than the smallest of our London 

 nurseries. They have also stock grounds, wliere tlie different plants 

 are planted out in the ground, and wliere the first process of dwarfing 

 tlieir celebrated trees is put in operation. These contain large collec- 

 tions of Camellias, Azaleas, Oran;^es, Roses, and various other well- 

 known plants, wliieli are purchased by the Cliinese when in flower. 

 The most striking plant in autiunn or winter is the curious fingered 

 Citron, which the Cliinese gather and place in tlieir dwelli igs or on 

 their altars. It is much admired, both for its strange form and also 

 for its perfume. The Mandarin Osange is also much grown at Fa-tee, 

 where the plants are kept in a dwarf state, and flower and iruit most 

 profusely, producing large, flat, dark, red-skinned fruit. The Chinese 

 have a great variety of plants belonging to the Orange tribe ; and of 

 one, which they call the Cum quat — a small oval-fruited variety — they 

 make a most excellent preserve. The Murraya exotica, Aglaia 

 odorata, Ixoras, and Lagei'stroemias are very ornamental here in 

 autumn. 



" But it is of course in spring that the Fa-tee gardens possess the 

 greatest attractions ; they are then gay with the Tree Faeony, Azaleas, 

 Camellias, Roses, and various other plants. The Azaleas are splendid, 

 and remindetl me of the exhibition in the gardens of the Horticultural 

 Society at Chiswick, but the Fa-tee exhibitions were on a much larger 

 scale. Every garden was one mass of bloom, and tiie diflerent colours 

 of red, white, and purple blended together, had a most beautiful and 

 imposing effect. The principal kinds grown were Azalea indica, 

 indica alba, phcenicea, latentia, variegata, and the yellow Azalea 

 sinensis. I may mention, in passing, that I found the latter plant wild 

 on the Ning-po hills, so that there is no doubt of its being a genuine 

 Chinese species. The air at this season around Fa-tee is perfumed with 

 the sweet flowers of Olea fragrans and the Magnolia fuscata, both of 

 which are grown extensively in these gardens. Dwarf trees, as may be 

 supposed, occupy a principal station ; they are trained into the most 

 grotesque and curious forms. The plants which stand next to dwarf 

 trees in importance with the Chinese are certainly Chrysanthemums, 

 which they manage extremely well, perhaps better tiian they do any 

 other plant. So high do these plants stand in the favour of the Chinese 

 gardener, that he will cultivate them extensively, even against the 

 wishes of his employer ; and, in many instances, rather leave his situa- 

 tion than give up the growth of his favourite flower. I was told that 

 the late Mr. Beale used to say that he grew Chrysanthemums in his 

 garden for no other purpose than to please his gardener, not having any 

 taste for this particular flower himself. 



" Tree Paeoniesare not natives of the South of China, but are brought 

 down in large quantities every year, about the month ot January, from 

 the northern provinces. They flower soon after they arrive, and are 

 rapidly brought up by the Chinese to ornament their houses, after 

 which they are thrown away, as they do not thrive well so far south as 

 Canton or Macao, and will not flower a second season. They are sold 

 according to the number of flower-buds they may have upon them, 

 many of them fetciiing rather high prices." 



Tlie flora of the northern provinces, Mr. Fortune remarks, is very 



