Chap. XXII. 
NURSERY GARDENS. 
of the principal gardens in the village. He re- 
ceived me with great politeness, and showed me 
all over his extensive nursery garden. He had a 
large collection of plants cultivated in pots, but 
they were nearly all southerners, such as those I 
have already noticed in describing the gardens of 
Tien-tsin . Sweet-scented Jasmines, Pomegranates, 
Olea fragrans, Oranges, Citrons, Apples, and Pears, 
cultivated in pots, were the chief objects of Mr. Jow’s 
care. As I looked eagerly into every hole and 
corner for something new, something indigenous to 
that part of the country, the good Chinaman was 
evidently much puzzled. “Had I not come for 
flowers ? Well, here were plenty of the finest which 
could be had ; why did I not take some of them ? ” 
When I asked him whether there were any other 
gardens in the neighbourhood, he replied that 
there were plenty, but that none of them had any 
plants different from those he had shown me. 
Leaving Jow-sing’s garden, I proceeded to look 
out for the others. I soon found that the whole 
of this part of the country was covered with them. 
Here, as at Tien-tsin, Canton, and other parts 
of China, as well as Japan, it seems the fashion 
for nurserymen to form themselves into little 
communities at stated places ; and the custom, I 
think, must he considered a good one, and conve- 
nient to the purchasers of flowers. There were 
some ten or twelve of these nurseries in this place, 
hut, strange to say, they did not contain a single 
new plant. The few species of a hardy kind, and 
