WINTER IN TIEN-TS1N. 
325 
of this I may instance Canton, Shanghae, and 
Soo-chow, and I have no doubt, when Tien-tsin is 
better known, we may add it to the list. The 
existence of this demand for the luxuries of life 
’augurs well, therefore, for the future of this port 
as a great emporium for foreign trade. 
On the approach of winter a wonderful change 
comes over these little gardens. Plants, flower- 
pots, and every green thing disappear as if by 
the stroke of some magician’s wand, and the places 
which all summer long had been gay with flowers, 
then look like a desert waste. All the plants 
have been huddled together in the houses erected 
for their protection, and there they must remain 
until the severity of the winter has passed by. 
The vineyards I have described also disappear 
from the scene. The stems of the vines are taken 
down from the trellis-work, and buried in the earth 
at a depth sufficient to protect them from the 
frost. Here they remain in safety during the 
winter, and are disinterred in spring. The Tien- 
tsin plain, too, at this season is probably one of 
the most dreary-looking places on which the sun 
shines. As far as the eye can reach not a green 
bush or tree is visible in the horizon ; all is cold 
and cheerless ; and one is apt to fancy that at last 
he has reached “ the ends of the earth.” 
