326 



TEA DISTEICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. XIX. 



depends not upon its size or strength, but upon the 

 number of flower-buds which it has upon it. The first 

 thing the Canton nurseryman does, when asked the 

 price of a moutan, is to count the number of flowers 

 which it is likely to produce ; if it has only one bud, 

 it may be worth a quarter of a dollar ; if two, half a 

 dollar, and so on. This is reasonable enough, when 

 the circumstances of the case are considered. The 

 moutan, when brought down into the hot climate of 

 the south, will not thrive for any length of time. 

 Being strong and vigorous when received, it blooms 

 well the first year, but, being deprived of its natural 

 period of rest — that is, a cold winter- — it gets out of 

 health, and, although it may continue to exist, is ever 

 afterwards quite worthless as an ornamental flower. 

 The southern Chinese, therefore, never attempt to 

 preserve it after it has once bloomed, and hence the 

 value of the plant to them depends entirely upon the 

 manner in which it blooms during the first year after 

 being brought away from its native climate. This 

 circumstance keeps up the constant yearly trade be- 

 tween the moutan country and Canton. 



According to Loudon, the first plant of the tree- 

 pseony reached Europe in 1787. In the ' Arboretum 

 et Fruticetum Britannicum ' we find the following 

 notice of it from the pen of that indefatigable author : 

 — " From Chinese drawings, and from the extrava- 

 gant praises bestowed upon this plant in the 1 Me- 

 moires sur la Chine,' published by the missionaries, 

 an ardent desire was excited, in Sir Joseph Banks 

 and others, to import plants into England ; and, pre- 



