Chap. XL SPRING AND SPRING FLOWERS. 241 



nan and Chekiang is most delightful. It is not like 

 an English spring with its easterly winds and cold 

 and cheerless days ; nor is it like an Indian one, 

 which is not a spring at all, but rather a hot dry 

 winter, with its leafless trees and burning sand. It 

 is a real genuine spring, which tells one that winter 

 has gone by ; the air is cool yet soft, and ren- 

 dered softer by mild April showers ; every tree is 

 bursting into leaf, and how deliciously green, these 

 leaves are when they first unfold themselves ! 

 The birds are singing in every bush and tree, 

 and all nature seems to rejoice and sing aloud 

 for joy. 



In the north of China there are a number of 

 plants which have their flower-buds very promi- 

 nently developed in autumn, so much so that they 

 are ready to burst into bloom before the winter 

 has quite passed by, or, at all events, on the first 

 dawn of spring. Amongst these Jasminum nudi- 

 florum occupies a prominent position. Its yellow 

 blossoms, which it produces in great abundance, 

 may be seen not unfrequently peeping out from 

 amongst the snow, and reminds the stranger in 

 these remote regions of the beautiful primroses 

 and cowslips which grow on the shaded banks 

 of his own land. Nearly as early as this^ the 

 pretty daisy-like Spircea prunifolia, the yellow F'or- 

 sythia viridissima^ the lilac Daphne Fortuneij and 

 the pink Judas-tree, become covered with blossoms, 

 and make our northern Chinese gardens extremely 



