16 



TEA DISTEICTS OF CHIXA. 



Chap. I, 



garden is rich in plants indigenous to China, and also 

 contains many which have been introduced from other 

 parts of the world. On entering the gate the first 

 thing which strikes a botanist is a fine specimen of the 

 new funereal cypress, nearly six feet high, and just 

 beginning to show its beautiful weeping habit. This 

 has been obtained from the interior, as it is not found 

 in the neighbourhood of Shanghae. Mr. Beale 

 intends to plant another on the opposite side of the 

 gate, and, when the two grow up, a very striking and 

 pretty effect will be produced. In the same border 

 there are fine specimens of Weigela rosea, Forsythia 

 viridissima, Chimonanthus, Moutans, Lagerstroemias, 

 roses, &c, and of nearly all the new plants sent home 

 to the Horticultural Society from 1843 to 1846. In 

 this part of the garden there is also a fine plant of the 

 new Berberisjaponica, lately obtained from the interior. 



The American Magnolia grandijiora has been 

 introduced here, and promises to be a very orna- 

 mental tree ; its fine green leaves and noble flowers 

 are much admired by the northern Chinese. Several 

 plants of Cryptomeria japonica are succeeding admi- 

 rably, and will soon be much more beautiful than any 

 in this part of the country. The garden has been 

 raised with a large quantity of fresh soil considerably 

 above the level of the surrounding ground, so that all 

 the family of the pines succeed much better than in 

 those places where they are usually planted by the 

 Chinese; besides, the latter generally spoil all the 

 trees belonging to this family by lopping off the lower 

 branches for firewood. 



