DECIDUOUS PLANTS. 
Chap. XIX. 
the year. Even common junipers, which are 
perfectly hardy in England, have to be protected 
during the Tien-tsin winters. Out of doors I 
noticed large holes in the ground in various places, 
and was told that these were used for the protec- 
tion of plants, which, after being put in, were 
thatched over or covered up with straw. 
The few plants which did not require protec- 
tion were of deciduous kinds, which shed their 
leaves in the autumn, and are leafless all winter. 
Amongst them were the Jasminum and Weigela 
already mentioned, and the now well-known 
Prunus triloba. There was also what appeared 
to be a new species of Forsythia , with thick, dark, 
shining leaves. Although I had previously found 
most of these plants in Chusan, Shanghae, Soo- 
chow, and in the countries adjoining these places, 
it is not improbable they may be natives of a more 
northern latitude, and this would account for the 
hardiness of their constitutions, which enables 
them to withstand the cold of our English winters. 
It is a fact worth noting, however, that, as a 
general rule, all deciduous plants from the places 
just mentioned are perfectly hardy in Europe and 
America. What, for example, can be more hardy 
with us than the beautiful Glycine sinensis when 
trained over our houses or walls, or the pretty 
Jasminum nudiflorum , which becomes covered with 
yellow flowers in mid-winter, and oftentimes shows 
itself peeping out from under a mantle of snow ? 
Chrysanthemums are largely cultivated in most 
