Chinese Scenery, Plants, and Gardens. 



139 



the pot soon acts as a prison, its growth is necessarily im- 

 peded ; at the same time every means are used to check its 

 enlargement. The points of the shoots, and the half of every 

 new leaf, are constantly and carefully cut off; the stem and 

 branches, which are allowed to extend only a certain length, 

 are bound, and fantastically distorted, by means of wire ; the 

 bark is lacerated to produce protuberances, asperities, and 

 cracks. One branch is partly broken through, and allowed 

 to hang down, as if by accident ; another is mutilated, to repre- 

 sent a dead stump : in short, every exertion of the plant is 

 checked by some studied violence or other. This treatment 

 produces, in course of time, a forest-tree in perfect miniature ! 

 Stunted and deformed by the above means, it certainly becomes 

 a curious object, bearing all the marks of extreme old age. Its 

 writhed and knotty stem, weather-stained and scabrous bark, 

 its distorted and partly-dead branches, its diminutive shoots 

 and leaves, all give it the aspect of an antique vegetable 

 dwarf ! Various kinds of trees are chosen for this purpose ; 

 but two most commonly met with are the Ulmus parvifolia 

 sinensis *, and a species of Ficus, very much like the Indica. 



But in the midst of all this perversion of the harmony of 

 nature, this display of vitiated taste, the European is highly 

 pleased with the arrangement and 

 neatness of their nurseries, the 

 unceasing care bestowed on their 

 potted collections of plants, and 

 the [great value set upon some of 

 them, even among themselves. 

 The jlorimania is even more pre- 

 valent in China than in Europe. 

 One hundred dollars is freely • 

 given for fine specimens of favour- 

 ite plants, such as the Macklan, 

 (Epidendrum fuscatum, valued for 

 its delightful odour,) {Jig. 39.) 

 which is not at all an uncommon plant ! and some of the fine 

 coloured Moutan (Pasonia Moutan) are also highly prized ; 

 but they are brought from the northern provinces, not being 

 cultivated about Canton. 



In their botanical nomenclature there is no scientific classi- 

 fication attended to, except in two instances, if such they may 

 be called, viz. all plants having Narcissus-like leaves, such as 



* This tree bears the rigour of our winters, as appears from one now 

 growing in the garden of the Reverend Mr. Norris, of Grove Street, 

 Hackney. 



