THE STORY OF THE GINKGO 



botanist of German extraction, Dr. Alexander von 

 Bunge, who accompanied the 1 1 th Ecclesiastical 

 Mission sent by the Russian Government to Peking 

 in 1830 where he stayed for nearly eight months, 

 tells of seeing a Ginkgo-tree near Peking "of prodigi- 

 ous height" and 40 ft. in circumference." No sub- 

 sequent traveller has seen a tree of such huge dimen- 

 sions and the probability is that Bunge exaggerated. 



In southern Manchuria and in Korea growfme speci- 

 mens of the Ginkgo, especially in Keijyo, the capital 

 city of Korea, where trees from 80 to 90 ft. tall and 

 from 18 to 20 ft. in girth of trunk are fairly common. 

 In the courtyard of Choanji temple in the Diamond 

 Mountains, a Buddhist sanctuary and one of the 

 loveliest spots on earth, there is a fine old specimen 

 some 80 ft. tall and 14 ft. in girth of trunk and with 

 abundant sprouts. The most northerly place in which 

 I saw the Ginkgo growing in Korea was about 40 miles 

 east of Gensan. In Korea the people claim that one 

 may sit down on the ground beneath the shade of a 

 Ginkgo-tree and not be pestered with ants, but my 

 experience does not support this claim. 



It is in Japan and in the city of Tokyo, however, 

 that I have seen the finest average trees and the great- 

 est in size of trunk. Every park, temple ground, and 

 palace yard has its Ginkgo-tree which is usually of 

 great size. There are handsome specimens in Hibya 



59 



