172 REMINISCENCES OF A VOYAGE TO AND FROM CHINA. 
ciosum), and in another, a fine plant of the Tow-cow (Alpinia nutans). 
The pool was surrounded by rugged stones, and an arch of the same 
was carried over to represent the mouth of a rocky cave. Between, 
and in the cavities of the stones, plants of the black bamboo were stuck 
here and there, to hang over the water, and roots of asparagus, which, 
with their slender and regularly branched stems of different heights, 
represented groves of trees. Around, and on the shelves of the stones, 
dwarfed trees, in pots covered with fragments of rock, were placed, and 
partly covered with moss and lichen and pieces of algee brought from 
the sea shore, altogether forming a spectacle of the most grotesque 
character. Such things w r e saw in many other places; and we verily 
believe that if a Chinese had a field of ten acres to beautify in his 
own style, it would be covered with the same kind of little fanciful 
freaks repeated a thousand times over. 
Their kitchen gardening is all carried on in the open fields surrounding 
the city, and, from what we saw of the preparations making for the 
summer crops, we conclude that they are upon the whole excellent 
kitchen gardeners. Not a weed was to be seen, and they are at very 
great pains in keeping their land in heart by manuring. Night-soil 
and the scouring of canals and ditches is their customary dress; for, in 
a country where no domestic animals are kept except pigs and aquatic 
poultry, the husbandman cannot easily be supplied with manure. 
They grow Batavian endive, in very great perfection ; likewise the 
rhizomas or under-ground stems of the arum indicum (?), which is a 
staple commodity with the market gardeners, and seems to be an 
indispensable article in Chinese cookery. The tuberous roots of the 
water-lily which they drag out of their numerous canals is another 
plentiful vegetable in the markets, and which they use in the same 
manner as the foregoing, i. e. as an ingredient in their stews. 
The Company’s officers had a kitchen garden of their own about three 
miles distant from the city on the north side, and in which they 
endeavoured to get the native gardeners to grow as many of the 
European vegetables as their skill or the climate would permit. Some 
things they grew, we believe, pretty well, but they could not grow 
onions to please their employers, persisting in the unnecessary expedient 
of growing them year after year from offsets instead of from seed. The 
gentlemen of the factory had leave of the Hoppo (governor) that we 
should proceed with one of his officers and an interpreter to the garden, 
and give the necessary instructions for sowing the seed, &c. The 
gardeners were apprised beforehand of our intended visit, and, on our 
arrival at the ground, we were met by half a dozen very respectable 
looking men. Our directions were quickly given : they attended to 
