112 ART OP DWARFING TREES. Chap. VII. 
I did not meet with anything so very small and 
very expensive as that above mentioned. Pines, 
junipers, thujas, bamboos, cherry and plum trees, 
are generally the plants chosen for the purpose of 
dwarfing. 
The art of dwarfing trees, as commonly practised 
both in China and Japan, is in reality very simple 
and easily understood. It is based upon one of the 
commonest principles of vegetable physiology. 
Anything which has a tendency to check or retard 
the flow of the sap in trees, also prevents, to a cer- 
tain extent, the formation of wood and leaves. This 
may he done by grafting, by confining the roots in 
a small space, by withholding water, by bending 
the branches, and in a hundred other ways, which 
all proceed upon the same principle. This prin- 
ciple is perfectly understood by the Japanese, and 
they take advantage of it to make nature sub- 
servient to this particular whim of theirs. They 
are said to select the smallest seeds from the smallest 
plants, which I think is not at all unlikely. I have 
frequently seen Chinese gardeners selecting suckers 
for this purpose from the plants of their gardens. 
Stunted varieties were generally chosen, particu- 
larly if they had the side branches opposite or 
regular, for much depends upon this ; a one-sided 
dwarf-tree is of no value in the eyes of the Chinese 
or Japanese. The main stem was then, in most 
cases, twisted in a zigzag form, which process 
checked the flow of the sap, and at the same time 
encouraged the production of side-branches at those 
