16 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



On all the main roads there are inns of sorts, usually very filthy, 

 for the accommodation of travellers but on the byways, and more 

 especially in the mountain districts, accommodation is hard to find 

 and of the meanest description. Here, back again in civilization, 

 I often shudder when thinking of the filthy and abominable lodgings 

 I have suffered during my peregrinations in the heart of China. 



Having now given a brief description of the country, its moun- 

 tains and methods of travel, we will proceed to the main subject 

 of our discourse, namely, the Flora of China. 



One feature of the Chinese flora and one which is of peculiar 

 interest to all garden lovers is that it includes the original types of 

 so many of our most familiar garden plants and the home of many 

 of these is the immediate neighborhood of Ichang. For example, 

 the chrysanthemum. This queen of autumn flowers is, as you all 

 well know, a native of China and the wild forms, both C. indicum 

 and C. sinense, are common weeds around Ichang. The chrysan- 

 themum has been cultivated in China and Japan from time im- 

 memorial and up to the middle (1860) of last century the introduc- 

 tion of new varieties from these countries to the Occident was 

 considered of great importance. Now all is changed, China and 

 Japan today are acquiring the new varieties raised in this country 

 and in Europe. 



Chrysanthemum sinense was first cultivated in Europe in the 

 gardens of Holland as early as 1689, no less than 6 kinds being 

 known. These were subsequently lost and when the plant was 

 again introduced, in 1789, through the agency of Sir Joseph Banks, 

 the plant was absolutely unknown to Dutch gardeners. 



Chrysanthemum indicum was cultivated by Philip Miller in the 

 Chelsea Physic Gardens in 1764, having been discovered in 1751, 

 near Macao, South China, by Osbeck. This species has, however, 

 had much less to do in the evolution of our present-day chrysan- 

 themum than has C. sinense. 



Again take the rose: — Rosa indica, the Chinese monthly rose, 

 is the parent of the tea rose. It is native of the Ichang neighbor- 

 hood where wild specimens were discovered by Dr. Henry. Rosa 

 indica was introduced into England by Sir Joseph Banks in 1789. 

 Altogether about 30 species of roses are known from China and rose- 

 bushes are extraordinarily abundant. In the warmer parts we 



