350 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



over with this substance. When finished it is as thick as a rattan or small 



cane Various species of wormwood are likewise employed for 



the same purpose." Since my arrival in China on this occasion I have been 

 making further inquiries about this curious substance, but have been met 

 with considerable jealousy on the part of the Chinese. One manufacturer, 

 more communicative than his neighbors, gave me a good deal of informa- 

 tion as to the substances employed, but when pressed as to the proportions 

 of each, suddenly changed his tone, and cooly told me he knew nothing 

 about it, that if I wanted to buy it he would supply me with any quantity, 

 that it was cheap enough, and what could I want more. Patience is a great 

 virtue in China, and if I can only exercise it, perhaps I may tell you some- 

 thing more by-and-by about mosquito tobacco. 



Hardiness of Chinese Plants in England. — I have read with great interest 

 the remarks published from time to time upon the effects of the severe 

 winter of 1853-54 on Chinese plants of late introduction. Such plants as 

 Weigelia rosea, Jasminum liudiflorum, Forsythia viridissima, &c., I have 

 always considered as perfectly hardy and suited for our climate, but I con- 

 fess I was not so sanguine with regard to Cephatolaxus Fortuiii, which 

 appears to have proved itself as hardy as any of them. Tliis is a great 

 matter, considering the beauty of both varieties of this Chinese yew. The 

 Chusan hemp palm, too, seems to have established its claim as a hardy palm 

 at last. I have long thought that the species might produce the same 

 marked effect upon our scenery as it does in that of the north-eastern prov- 

 ince of China, more particularly in the southern counties of England and 

 Ireland, and in the mild climate of Edinburgh, The new Chinese berberries, 

 in the class to which Berberis Bealei belongs, are no doubt perfectly hardy ; 

 they are much more so than Berberis Fortuni. The latter was much injured 

 by the M'inter of 1852-53 at Slianghai, while the former stood perfectly 

 unscathed. The Hollies I. furcata and cornuta, are no doubt as hardy as 

 our common English one. I do not observe it stated how Abies jezoensis 

 stood the winter in England ; at Shanghai it did not suffer in the least. 

 This species was discovered on the mountains near Foo-chow in Fokien, 

 but I fancy, from its apparent hardiness, it must have been introduced from 

 Japan. " Dielytra spectabilis requires no further trial ;" so says Dr. Lindley 

 in a leading article. This was a great acquisition, and almost worth a jour- 

 ney to China itself. I can hardly credit my eyesight when I read that the 

 Assam tea plant is hardy ; is there not some mistake here ? [No.] It is a 

 fact worth noticing that Avhile the winter of 1853-4 was a most severe one 

 in Europe, it was particularly mild on the eastern side of Asia. Ice was 

 scarcely formed on the lakes and canals about Shanghai and Ningpo, and 

 all last summer the Chinese were dependent on that which had been housed 

 in 1852-53, and which -the plain ice-houses (described in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle for 1845) keep so well. — (R. Fortune, in Gard. Chron., 1855, 

 p. 318.) 



