Chap. XIX. WINTER HOUSES FOR PLANTS. 319 
These gardens are situated on the banks of the 
Grand Canal, some two or three miles west from 
the city, and beyond the extensive suburb which 
extends for miles up the side of the Pei-ho river 
and Grand Canal. We found fields in their 
neighbourhood planted with China asters and 
herbaceous peonies, whose flowers were in much 
request amongst the ladies of Tien-tsin. The 
nursery gardens (properly so called) were more 
than a dozen in number, and were well stocked 
with plants, some of which were cultivated in pots 
and others planted out in the ground. As in the 
garden already noticed, by far the greater number 
of these plants had been obtained from the southern 
provinces, and are tender in this latitude. 
In order to save these plants during the rigour 
of a Tien-tsin winter there are, in every garden, a 
number of winter-houses, in which the plants are 
stowed away. These houses have thick mud walls 
on the north, east, and west sides ; they have also 
mud roofs, and in front, facing the south, there is 
a framework of wood. This framework is pasted 
over with paper, which admits light enough to 
keep the plants alive; and there is a thick mat 
and straw covering, which can be used when the 
cold is unusually severe. Sometimes the floors of 
such houses are furnished with hot-air chambers 
and furnaces, by which means artificial heat, in a 
rude way, can be applied. Owing to the severity 
of the winter, almost every plant in cultivation is 
protected, in some way or other, at that season of 
