202 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



tion of the manner in which the cultivation of culi- 

 nary vegetables is managed in that country, where 

 indeed the practice of horticulture appears to have 

 reached to considerable perfection, although the sci- 

 entific principles upon which it should be founded are 

 wholly unknown. 



It is said that the lower orders of people in some 

 parts of China draw a chief part of their nourish- 

 ment from the produce of their gardens, and that 

 they are in possession of some garden esculents which 

 are peculiar to themselves. We are indebted to 

 China for several valuable additions to our flower- 

 gardens, and among the rest for various species of 

 the Camellia, Pceonia, and Rose ; and it is reasonable 

 to suppose that the same care would have been 

 taken for the transmission of seeds of new descrip- 

 tions of esculents had any such presented them- 

 selves. 



In an empire comprehending so great a variety of 

 climate, the natural productions must doubtless be 

 extremely varied, and the Chinese are said to be in 

 the enjoyment of most of the fruits and vegetables 

 that are reared throughout Europe. There is little 

 that is worthy of remark in what has been stated with 

 regard to the methods employed for the cultivation of 

 their vegetable gardens. Recent travellers have en- 

 deavoured to throw an air of discredit upon the re- 

 lations of the learned men whose accounts have been 

 already noticed. It is indeed not impossible that 

 these Reverend Fathers may have endeavoured to 

 draw a little upon the credulity of their readers ; but, 

 on the other hand, it must be considered, that while 

 our own intelligent countrymen who have been ad- 

 mitted within the borders of the Celestial Empire 

 have had their opportunities for observation limited to 

 the time employed in the performance of a rapid jour- 

 ney, during which they were always watched by a 



