Chap. III. CHESNUT-TREES. 51 



The lower sides of all the hills round this old 

 city are covered with trees, and have a very pretty 

 appearance. The Chinese pine (Pinus sinensis), 

 which is grouped about in all directions, attains to 

 a great size ; several kinds of oak, both evergreen 

 and deciduous, are also common ; but perhaps the 

 most striking of all is the camphor-tree, which 

 with its gnarled and angular branches is quite the 

 monarch of the woods. Amongst these woods I met 

 with the chesnut for the first time in China. This 

 discovery was of great importance, as I was most 

 anxious to introduce this to the Himalayan moun- 

 tains in India. Many attempts had been made to 

 introduce it from Europe, but they had not suc- 

 ceeded. The seeds of such trees as oaks, chesnuts, 

 tea, &c., retain their vitality for a very short time 

 after they are gathered if they are not sown and 

 allowed to vegetate. It is therefore useless to 

 attempt to send these seeds in dry paper parcels 

 or in hermetically sealed bottles from Europe to 

 the north of India. The chesnuts which I had 

 met with in the markets of China, although ex- 

 cellent for the dessert, were generally too old for 

 vegetating ; but now, when I had discovered the 

 locality where they grew, there was no longer any 

 difficulty in procuring them quite fresh. There 

 are two species cultivated on these hills. One is 

 somewhat like the Spanish, and, although pro- 

 bably a different variety, it produces fruit quite 

 equal in quality, if not superior, to the Spanish 

 chesnut. The other is a delicious little kind, bear- 



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