THE JAPANESE DWAKF TKEES. 



53 



THE JAPANESE DWAEF TREES: THEIR CULTIVATION IN 

 \- JAPAN AND THEIR USE AND TREATMENT IN EUROPE. 



By Monsieur Albert Maumerne*. 

 [Abstracts from a pamphlet published in Paris in 1902.] 



The matter contained in the following paper is derived partly from 

 original observation and partly from consultation of the undermentioned 

 works : 



Binu, S. Dwarf Trees of Japan : Catalogue of a collection of. (Paris, 1002, with 

 10 plates.) 



Carriere, E.-A. Articles on Japanese Horticulture. (Rev. liort., Paris, 1878, 

 p. 271.) 



Japanese Gardens. (Rev. hurt., Paris, 1899, p. 374.) 



Dybowski. The Japanese Garden. (Nature, Paris, 1889, II., p. 239.) 

 Maury. On the Japanese Methods of Dwarfing Trees. [Bull. Sac. Bat. France. 

 Paris, 1899, p. 290.) 



The Yokohama Nursery. How the Japanese grow Dwarf Trees in Jardinieres. 



(Gard. Chron., London 1899, II., p. 406.) 

 Vallot, J. Physiological Causes which produce the Stunted Formation of Trees 



under Japanese Cultivation. (Bull. Soc. Bot. France, Paris, 1889, p. 284.) 



MM. Carriere and Vallot do not treat the subject in a detailed 

 manner. They do not advance any very intelligent suppositions, and 

 confine themselves principally to facts. 



The paper on the Yokohama nursery is by no means a description of 

 the methods of dwarfing adopted by the Japanese, but simply of the treat- 

 ment bestowed by them on trees already trained or in course of formation. 



The art of restricting the growth of even the largest trees, so that they 

 only attain to a mere fraction of their normal size, is, like every other 

 Japanese idea, both original and curious ; and it enables us to place on 

 our tables a fir 200 years old or an octogenarian plum tree. To a 

 Japanese the dwarf trees are works of art, equal in value to pictures by 

 true artists. This art of dwarfing forest trees is part of the education of 

 the Japanese gentry. It has its schools and its old masters. The young- 

 persons of the wealthy classes devote to this art the time which young- 

 European ladies spend in music, drawing. &c. This shows that the 

 Japanese views on many points are very different from ours. To the 

 Japanese the garden is the outdoor salon, and the salon is the indoor 

 garden. They always like to have before them the illusion of a natural 

 landscape. To admire these works in default of special education in this 

 matter, one must learn to appreciate such curved lines as will charm the 

 eye at first sight. 



The art of the Japanese gardeners does not consist in simply growing 

 and flowering beautiful plants. Their ambition is far greater : the trees 

 cultivated in china pots must recall and reproduce by their appearance 

 those which grow on the mountain slope or on the edge of the ravine, and 



