78 DWARF TREES. 



name it the pig-basket grass, (Chu, long, tzo,*) 

 from the appendages or pitchers of the leaves 

 having, when placed horizontally, some resem- 

 iilance to the form of the baskets in which the 

 pigs are carried to market. The Chinese avail 

 themselves of the well-known obstinacy of these 

 animals, and by that ijieans succeed in getting 

 the beast into the narrow conveyance; by placing 

 the head of the animal close to the entrance of 

 the basket, and pulling the creature by the tail, 

 it enters immediately. 



The dwarf trees are certainly one of the cu- 

 riosities of the vegetable kingdom in China, 

 being a joint production of nature and art : they 

 are very small, placed in pots of various kinds, 

 upon the backs of earthenware buffaloes, frogs, 

 towers, and rockwork, which constitutes the 

 Chinese taste in what these people would be 

 pleased to term " ornamental gardening." The 

 plants have all the growth and appearance of an 

 antiquated tree, but of an exceedingly diminutive 

 size. Elms, bamboos, and other trees, are treated 

 in this manner, and are abundant in the nursery 

 gardens about Macao and Canton : they are pro- 

 duced from young healthy branches, selected from 

 a large tree, which, being decorticated and co- 

 vered with a mixture of clay and chopped straw, 

 * Chu, signifying pig ; long, basket ; and tzo, grass. 



