314 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XVIII. 
the peach-orchards a few miles to the south of the city ; 
and it is quite a usual thing to see peaches of this 
variety eleven inches in circumference and twelve ounces 
in weight. This is, probably, what some writers call 
the Peking peach, about which such exaggerated stories 
have been told. Trees of the Shanghae variety are 
now in the garden of the Horticultural Society of 
London. 
The whole of my plants from the districts of Foo- 
chow-foo, Chusan, and Ning-po, being brought together 
at Shanghae, I got them packed, and, on the 10th of 
October, left the north of China for Hong-kong and 
England. As I went down the river I could not but 
look around me with pride and satisfaction ; for in this 
part of the country I had found the finest plants in my 
collections. It is only the patient botanical collector, 
the object of whose unintermitted labour is the introduc- 
tion of the more valuable trees and shrubs of other 
countries into his own, who can appreciate what I then 
felt. 
When we arrived at Hong-kong I divided my collec- 
tions and despatched eight glazed cases of living plants 
for England : the duplicates of these and many others I 
reserved to take home under my own care. I then went 
up to Canton and took my passage for London in the 
ship " John Cooper."' Eighteen glazed cases, filled with 
the most beautiful plants of northern China, were placed 
upon the poop of the ship, and we sailed on the 22nd of 
December. After a long but favourable voyage we 
anchored in the Thames on the 6th of May, 1846. The 
