396 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



his residence in China, Reeves contributed largely to English horticulture 

 and to this Society in particular, not only by his own direct shipments, 

 but also by collecting plants during the spring and summer, establishing 

 them well in pots previous to the shipping season, and then commending 

 them to the care of the captains of the Company's ships, to whom he was 

 ' also able to recommend the most desirable plants for transportation to 

 England, and to whom also he succeeded in communicating some of the 

 enthusiasm with which he himself was animated. Reeves applied himself 

 with indefatigable zeal to sending home all that he found most rare and 

 beautiful among living plants in the Canton Gardens. He was either the 

 immediate or indirect source from which we first derived our varieties 

 of Chinese Azaleas, Camellias, Tree Paeonies, Chrysanthemums, Roses, and 

 numerous other treasures. Not a Company's ship at that time sailed for 

 Europe without her deck being decorated with the little portable green- 

 houses which preceded the Wardian cases of a later date. 



The R.H.S. is indebted to Reeves for a fine collection of coloured 

 drawings of Chinese plants executed under his immediate supervision by 

 Chinese draughtsmen. These drawings first brought to us a knowledge 

 of the Chinese Primrose, Dendrobium nobile, Wisteria sinensis, and 

 other plants which were subsequently introduced into English gardens 

 by Reeves himself. 



The good work of the elder Reeves was followed by work of a similar 

 nature on the part of his son, John Russell Reeves. To him we are 

 indebted for such well-known plants as Deutzia crenata, Acer palmatum, 

 Primus jayonica (single form), Keiria japonica (single form), and 

 Spiraea cantonensis. 



In those early days the acquisition of different varieties of Chrys- 

 anthemums, Camellias, &c, was an object this Society exerted itself 

 to secure. The first collector sent out by this Society to China was 

 John Potts, in 1821. Potts sailed to China onboard the " General Kyd," 

 and returned by the same ship in August 1822. He visited Canton, 

 Macao, and Calcutta, and brought back with him a valuable collection 

 of living plants and herbarium specimens, chiefly from China. In Canton 

 he got together a collection of some forty varieties of Chrysanthemum, 

 but an accident befell these on board and every one was lost. Hoya 

 Pottsii and Pottsia cantonensis were brought home living and com- 

 memorate this meritorious collector. Unfortunately, Potts died soon 

 after his return to England. 



In 1823 our Society despatched John Damper Parks to China. He 

 also made a successful voyage, and returned in 1824, bringing back living 

 plants of twenty distinct varieties of Chrysanthemum, sixteen of which 

 proved to be new and were described by Sabine. In addition to these, 

 he brought over several species and varieties of Camellia, Bosa Banhsiae 

 var. lutea and a distinct variety of B. indica and many other plants of 

 lesser interest. 



After Parks' trip, owing to the unsettled state of China, nothing 

 further was attempted by our Society until 1843, when Robert Fortune 

 was despatched. The travels and explorations of Fortune in China 

 inaugurate a new era in the history of botanical discoveries in that 

 country. I>efore that time the Chinese plants introduced into our gardens 



