104 WOKCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1892. 



the climate of the two places I incline to believe they would. 

 Their introduction could not fail to give satisfaction to the 

 owners of parks or ornamental forests. 



Of the cultivated flowers of Yesso, I need say but little. 

 Much has already been said and written on this subject, and 

 better than I could hope to do it. That the Japanese love flowers 

 you are probably all aware. All either collect them from the 

 fields or woods or cultivate them in gardens. Most do both, 

 and select for both with a taste that never fails to charm. 

 Poor indeed is the family — nay more, low down in the social 

 scale — that cannot and does not find at least an old jug for a 

 branch of the pussy-willow, the plum, the cherry, the magnolia, 

 or the brilliant maple — each in its season. And this universal 

 taste and love for flowers is manifested alike in snowy Yesso 

 and in the more sunny south. Yet should one look for the 

 lily, the pteony, the chiysanthemum, the lotus, and the many 

 other flowers for which Japan is famous, each in highest perfec- 

 tion, one must naturally turn to the older parts of the country. 

 These and many other flowers are cultivated in Yesso, but with 

 perhaps a single exception the new country must yield the palm 

 to the old. That exception is the Ii'is Kcempferi^ which in 

 Sapporo reaches a wonderful development. Now for several 

 years, every season has witnessed in Sapporo a display of 

 these marvelous flowers, by a local horticulturist, which in an 

 American city would be the wonder of the town. He numbers 

 his varieties by hundreds, and has perhaps an acre of sunken 

 beds separated only by the narrowest of raised paths. Most of 

 the plants stand five or six feet in height and bear enormous 

 flowers, a foot and more across and seemingly in every hue and 

 in every possible mixture of all hues. Truly as I have sat and 

 gazed upon the wondrous display I have felt ready to exclaim, 

 " This is the queen of flowers." 



With this exception I saw no noteworthy attempts at cultiva- 

 tion of flowers in Yesso. Many were the charming little 

 gardens, usually at the rear of the house, but always commanded 

 by the best rooms. But Japanese gardens would require a lecture 

 by themselves. Believe me, they have a charm all their own. 

 They comprehend nuich within a limited area. Mountains, 



