SIDELIGHTS ON THINGS JAPANESE. 



"3 



Ernest Hart, and others, had not then arisen 

 in their enthusiasm and strength, nor had our 

 friend Mr. Eida then settled in London. We 

 saw in the old Japanese nursery at Leyden 

 evidence, ample and varied, that Siebold had 

 been a most remarkable man. It is believed 

 that he introduced the beautiful Vitis Thun- 

 bergi, which the late Anthony Waterer, of 

 Knaphill, found growing in a nursery at Bos- 

 koop and introduced, and grew for years over 

 Laburnums and Scotch Firs in his nursery. 

 This noble Vine is now believed to be quite 

 distinct from its first-cousin V. Coignetice^ later 

 introduction. One of the first to fully appre- 

 ciate the beauty of Thunberg's Vine was Lord 



When Peter Barr and myself were at Ley- 

 den we saw evidence of Siebold having intro- 

 duced some examples of dwarfed Japanese 

 trees. At that time dwarfed trees appear to 

 have been a drug in the market, and they had 

 been — probably to save trouble and atten- 

 tion — plunged outside in their original pots, 

 pans, and vases, and, rooting through into the 

 rich alluvial soil outside, had thrown out great 

 growths and branches from the contorted net- 

 work of interlaced or gnarled growths below. 

 Coloured and cut leaved Maples, Rodgeria, 

 and giant Polygonatums also were there, un- 

 kempt and luxuriant ; so, also, the giant Knot- 

 weeds Polygonum Sieboldi, P. compacta, and P. 



IN AN IRIS GARDEN, JAPAN. 



Annesley, who has grown it in Ireland for 

 thirty years or so. I have seen this Vine very 

 beautiful at Castlewellan, but a rooted layer of 

 it presented by Lord Annesley to his old friend 

 the late Major Hall, at Narrowwater Park, is 

 now probably the finest specimen in existence 

 in the British Isles. The late Charles Maries, 

 Professor Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum, 

 and other travellers, have all told us of the 

 autumn glory of this Vine, as seen in the 

 woods of Japan ; and, after that of Thunberg, 

 it is one of the best of the large-leaved grape 

 vines now grown. 



sachalinense, the latter trying its best to choke 

 upeverythingamongst which its great sucker- 

 ing stems ran about, like a big bully of a boy at 

 play. Neglected as was Siebold's old garden, 

 we left it with regret, and took a long, linger- 

 ing look at the little tiled roofs and the tori, 

 and felt in our hearts that we had trodden on 

 sacred ground, for the soil is really consecrated 

 that has been cultivated and stocked with 

 beauty by the hands and once living, throb- 

 bing brain of a man of Siebold's character. I 

 believe the financial success was very small — 

 possibly, from an accountant's view, an actual 



