Chap. VIII. CULTIVATION OF CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 125 
purple, blended together, had a most beautiful and 
imposing effect. The air at this season around Fa-tee 
is perfumed with the sweet flowers of Olea fragrans 
and the Magnolia fuscata, both of which are grown 
extensively in these gardens. Dwarfed trees, as may 
be supposed, occupy a principal station ; they are trained 
into the most grotesque and curious forms. The plants 
which stand next to dwarf trees in importance with the 
Chinese are certainly chrysanthemums, which they 
manage extremely well, perhaps better than they do 
any other plant. So high do these plants stand in the 
favour of the Chinese gardener, that he will cultivate 
tliem extensively, even against the wishes of his em- 
ployer ; and, in many instances, rather leave his situation 
than give up the growth of his favourite flower. I was 
told that the late Mr. Beale used to say that he grew 
chrysanthemums in his garden for no other purpose than 
to please his gardener, not having any taste for this par- 
ticular flower himself. 
Tree paeonies are not natives of the south of China, 
but are brought down in large quantities every year, 
about the month of January, from the northern pro- 
vinces. They flower soon after they arrive, and are ctr^'*C 
rapidly bought up by the Chinese to ornament their M^^^^ 
houses ; after which they are thrown away, as they do not 
thrive well so far south as Canton or Macao, and will not 
flower a second season. They are sold according to the 
number of flower-buds they may have upon them, many 
of them fetching rather high prices. 
Although the botanist can find little that is new to 
him in these gardens, yet they are well worthy of a 
