334 



TEA DISTEICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. XIX. 



never, or at least rarely, at a high elevation. We 

 thus see how plants, which are naturally fitted for the 

 temperature of one part of the globe, can accommodate 

 themselves to another by choosing a higher or lower 

 situation on the hills. 



Although this genus is thus found spreading itself 

 over a vast tract of country, yet the northern parts 

 just indicated are evidently those in which it is most 

 at home. All who have been in the island of Chusan 

 will remember how beautiful the hill sides and woods 

 were in the months of April and May, when the 

 Azaleas were in bloom. Every hill was a garden 

 gay with flowers, planted and reared by the hand of 

 Nature herself. Before I saw these hills I thought 

 nothing could be more magnificent than those gorgeous 

 displays of Azaleas at our flower-shows, and certainly, 

 if we look merely at individual specimens, many of 

 those reared by the skill of English gardeners surpass 

 those which we find in a state of nature. But Nature 

 plants and rears with no sparing hand 5 her colours 

 are clear and brilliant, and she is not confined to 

 greenhouses and flower-tents in which to display her 

 productions, but scatters them with wild profusion 

 over the sides of the hills. It is here that she is 

 inimitable, and it is thus that she produces effects 

 which, once seen, can never be forgotten. 



Before leaving these Shanghae Azalea gardens, I 

 must notice one plant which was in flower at the time 

 I paid this visit to them. It was a specimen of Wistaria 

 chinensis, in a dwarfed state, growing in a pot. The 

 tree was evidently aged, from the size of its stem. It 



