138 



Chinese Scenery, Plants, and Gardens. 



being only a repetition of petty attempts at variety, on no 

 greater scale than the patch-work of a citizen's court-yard. 



In some instances they appear to have a relish for some of 

 the most striking features of uncultivated nature ; such as 

 antique trees {fig. 38.), rugged rocks, mossy caves, &c. ; but 



these are all imitated on such a diminutive scale, that the 

 attempts are truly ridiculous. 



This love of the grotesque not only appears in their gar- 

 dens, but also is frequently seen in the yards of tradesmen in 

 the city. A pile of rugged stones is placed in a corner ; on 

 this dwarfed trees and flowers are planted; and in order to 

 produce a resemblance of a grove of pines in miniature, they 

 plant the common Equisetum (horse tail) for the purpose ! 



There is one curiosity in Chinese gardening which rarely 

 escapes the notice of Europeans, viz. their specimens of dwarfed 

 forest-trees. To train such, they plant a young tree in a small 

 porcelain pot, either round, square, or most commonly an elong- 

 ated square, twelve or fourteen inches long, eight inches wide, 

 and about five in depth. Along with the tree they place pieces of 

 rugged stone to represent rocks, among which moss and lichens 

 are introduced. The tree thus planted is not allowed to rise 

 higher than about a foot or fifteen inches. No greater supply 

 of water is given than is just sufficient to keep it alive; and. as 



