THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES. 



59 



Kenga'i. — Trees overhanging a rising ground, or which appear to 

 throw their branches over a rock (fig. 9). 



Nazashi. — Dwarf trees with weeping or downward growing branches 

 (fig. 10). 



Jikki. — With formal arrangement of the branches (figs. 11, 12). 



Neazari. — Trees or shrubs in which the bare roots above ground are 

 regarded as of most importance (figs. 12, 15, 17). 



Bonkai. — The arrangement in the same vase of several dwarf plants, 

 forming a group or a picturesque scene. 



This classification could be considerably simplified by dividing the 

 plants into two main groups : 



(a) Those trees which are only dwarfed and keep their shape and 

 general appearance so exactly that they seem to be photographic reduc- 

 tions of natural-sized plants ; or, to use another comparison, they resemble 

 the natural- sized trees if the latter are looked at through the wrong end 

 of an opera-glass. 



(b) Those which have undergone a modification of shape in their 

 treatment, according to a certain theory of lines. 



Scenes and Miniature Gardens. — We must add that the same 

 principles inspire the formation in a simple tray some few inches square, 

 produced by a happy arrangement of various plants on a miniature 

 hillock, sometimes flanked by a rock, the whole generally well propor- 

 tioned, and showing in miniature various scenes in celebrated Japanese 

 gardens. These are made on a certain preconceived idea, nothing being 

 left to chance. They are made with a real knowledge of the law of pro- 

 portion, and give the idea of a real piece of country. 



We have seen in a tray a miniature reproduction of the Isle of 

 Misaka made by a twisted pine, a loose-growing cryptomeria, a kirisima 

 and a bamboo with their branches entangled, and sheltering under their 

 foliage little houses of bronze, in front of which little china figures 

 appear to be moving. In a second tray was another miniature garden 

 dominated by the curious and twisted form of a pine growing above a 

 Thuya which reared its knotty trunk over a rock, clasping it with its 

 red string-like roots, which somewhat resembled serpents, whilst a dwarf 

 maple overshadowed a little porch with its branches of different coloured 

 leaves. 



After having modelled the foundation of a garden in clay, so as to 

 accurately represent the contour of the ground it is wished to portray, 

 the gardener adds fragment of rocks, if the scene requires them, always 

 in proportion to the size of the whole. Then he puts the selected plants, 

 which have been arranged beforehand, in the positions chosen for them, 

 after which he adds the models of dwellings, porticoes and other erections, 

 and finally places in position the figures which serve to give life to the 

 scene. There is nothing artificial in this arrangement, and if a rocky escarp- 

 ment or other natural rugged scene is shown, everything that would be 

 artificial is omitted, even those groups of plants which might, by one 

 growing out beyond the others, show in time the difference between un- 

 cultivated nature and the carefully tended garden. 



The Plants most suitable for Dwarfing. — It is evident that 

 the Japanese excel in selecting the species which are best adapted for 



