384 THE FLORIST AftD 



gives them a little water, and places them in his window or sitting room. In 

 a day or two the buds burst, and the little tree is one mass of bloom. la- 

 this state all the three varieties are very beautiful ; but I think the carna- 

 tion striped one is the handsomest of them all. In the centre of the South' 

 Garden there is the family tomb — a large mound of earth, covered witn' 

 many pretty flowers. Here the old man's forefathers, for many generations, 

 lie buried, and here he will sleep among the flowers beloved in his lifetime. 

 This garden contains a good assortment of shrubs and trees which have been 

 longer known than those I have enumerated. There are some beds of 

 Reeve's Spiraea (S. Meevesiana), a beautiful shrub ; the Chinese Juniper, 

 Hibiscus syriacus. Wistaria sinensis, Lagerstrscmias, plums, and the favor- 

 ite La-mae ( Chimonanthus), with which Chinese ladies decorate their hair, 

 I had now made the circuit of the garden, and came to the little wooden bridge, 

 bj which I entered, to the gardener's house. 



When I reached Chusan, in latitude 30° jnorth, I found a remarkable 

 •change in the appearance of the vegetation. Tropical forms had entirely 

 disappeared, or were rarely met with. Although the summers were as warm 

 or even warmer than they were in the South, yet the winters were nearly as 

 cold as those we have in England. At this place, and all over the provin- 

 ces of Che-kiang and Kiang-nan, the Glycine seemed to be at home. It 

 grew wild on every hill-side, scrambling about in the hedges by the foot- 

 paths, and hanging over and dipping its leaves and flowers into the canals 

 and mountain streams. But by far the most beautiful effect is produced 

 when it attaches itself to the stems and branches of other trees. This is not 

 unfrequent in nature, and is often copied by the Chinese, and introduced in- 

 to their gardens. One can scarcely amagine anything more gorgeous or beau- 

 tiful than a large plant of this kind, in full bloom. Its main and larger 

 branches are entwined round every branch of the tree, and from them hun- 

 dreds of small ones hang down until they nearly touch the ground. The 

 whole of the branches are covered with flower buds, which a day or two of 

 warm weather brings rapidly forward into bloom. To form an idea of the 

 effect produced by these thousands of long lilac racemes, one must imagine 

 a floral cascade, or a weeping-willow covered with the flowers of the Glycine. 

 There are some large specimens of this kind on the Island of Chusan ; one 

 in particular was most striking. Not content with monopolizing one tree, it 

 had scrambled over a whole clump, and formed a pretty harbour underneath. 

 When I saw it last it was in full flower, and had a most charming appearance. 

 The Chinese are fond of growing the Glycine on trellis-work, and forming 

 long covered walks m the garden, or arbours and porticos in front of their 

 doors. There is a remarkable specimen in the garden of a mandarin, at 

 Ning-po. Growing in company with it is the fine new variety introduced 

 lately by the Horticultural Society of London, and described in the Journal 

 of the Society. In foliage and general habit the two kinds are nearly alike, 

 but the new one bears long racemes of pure A w'hite flowers. The kind old 

 gentleman to whom the garden belonged allowed me to make layers of this 

 plant on the top of his house, and during the summer months, when I was 

 travelling in other|districts, attended r to. them and watered them with 'his own 

 hands. — Fortune s Journal to the Tea Countries of China. 



