The Golden Bell 



a great favourite with the Chinese and generally 

 found a place in the gardens of the rich, and he 

 secured a specimen for his Society. But later on he 

 came across it growing wild among the mountains of 

 the interior in the province of Chekiang, " where I 

 thought it," he tells us, "even more ornamental in its 

 natural state amongst the hedges than when cultivated 

 in the fairy gardens of the Mandarins." 



This Forsythia, together with new azaleas, daphnes, 

 honeysuckles, and " a perfect gem " of a chrysanthemum, 

 formed part of the contents of those eighteen glazed 

 chests sent home by Robert Fortune, which arrived 

 in beautiful condition in England at the end of the 

 year 1845. 



On his return the explorer was made Curator of the 

 Botanic Garden at Chelsea where, with characteristic 

 energy, he at once set great reforms in progress. By 

 the way, the Forsythia was named in honour of a 

 previous Curator of these gardens, William Forsyth, 

 who lived from 1737 to 1804, and who is said to have 

 done more for the general improvement of fruit culture 

 than any other gardener of his time, and, indeed, of 

 most times. 



The flowers of both species of the Golden Bell 

 are distinctly interesting. They all look precisely alike, 

 but a closer examination shows certain differences, not 

 between species and species but between the flowers 



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