140 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. VIII. 
and also to inspect some gardens in which plants are 
kept for sale. I had been informed that Nan-che 
boasted of three or four nurseries ; and as it is a central 
place, and at a great distance from Shanghae, Ning-po, 
and the other coast towns, I was not without hope of 
finding some new and valuable plants worthy of being 
sent to England. 
I passed through some crowded streets of the same 
description as those at Shanghae. All Chinese towns 
have a striking resemblance to each other ; the shops 
are built and arranged in the same way, they contain 
the same kinds of articles, and everything about them 
seems alike. A person, therefore, who has seen one 
large Chinese city can form a good idea of all the rest in 
the empire. 
I found the nursery-gardens in the suburbs of the 
town. I examined three of them, but could find nothing 
(new or worth taking away. They contained large 
quantities of jasmines (Jasminum Samhac), cleroden- 
; ^drons, roses^ azaleas, camellias, and nelumbiums, but 
^ -nothing that was new to me, or that I had not found in 
abundance nearer the coast. The gardeners were ex- 
tremely civil, and did not seem to have the slightest 
idea that a foreigner stood before them. The only 
thing which surprised them was the information that 
their gardens did not contain the flowers which I 
wanted. They inquired the names of the plants I was 
looking for, and I told them that I wanted new ones, 
such as were not to be found in the gardens at Soo-chow, 
Hang-chow, and places nearer the coast. " Ah," said 
they, " you cannot expect to find in Nan-che anything 
