July  30,  1896. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Ill 
paintings  are  famous ;  some  rooms  contain  only  paintings  of  geese,  others 
of  peacocks,  whilst  one  of  the  most  striking  has  its  sliding  screens 
decorated  with  Bamboo  and  sparrows.  The  largest  of  all  has  a  Pine 
stretching  from  one  screen  to  the  other,  carried  along  the  whole  of  one 
side — it  is  wonderfully  executed,  even  the  minutest  grey  scabs  on  the 
bark  being  reproduced.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  the  three 
gardens  is  that  adjoining  the  first-named,  though  I  must  not  forget  to 
mention  that  in  front  of  the  large  and  magnificent  temple  Nishi 
Hongwanji  is  an  “  Icho  ”  (Ginkgo  biloba),  credited  with  the  power  of 
extinguishing  fire,  and  said  to  be  the  largest  in  Japan  ;  it  is  certainly 
not  the  highest,  scarcely  reaching  50  feet,  but  its  spread  of  branches  is 
very  great. 
The  Chinese  garden  behind  the  Kinhakuji  Monastery,  attached  to  the 
Zen  sect  of  Buddhists,  is  from  400  to  500  years  old,  and  most  prettily 
situated.  It  contains  a  lake,  in  which  are  some  huge  carp  and  red  fish, 
a  golden  pavilion,  and  a  curious  Pine  in  the  form  of  a  junk,  certainly  one 
of  the  most  curious  of  the  many  interesting  and  strangely  trained  Pines 
in  the  whole  Empire  (see  fig.  21,  page  109).  This  remarkable  example  of 
horticultural  skill  stands  alone  in  a  courtyard,  the  result — according  to 
the  attendant  priests — of  over  three  centuries  of  patient  labour.  Trained 
as  a  sailing  junk  the  main  trunk  forms  the  mast,  and  two  opposite 
branches  springing  from  the  stem  but  a  few  inches  from  the  ground  form 
the  basis  from  which  the  whole  upper  structure  of  the  hull  has  been 
formed.  The  hull  is  35  feet  In  length,  and  somewhat  exceeds  the  height 
of  the  whole  tree ;  the  remaining  branches  on  the  main  trunk  are  bare 
of  foliage  from  12  to  18  inches  from  their  base,  the  foliage  being  confined 
to  the  distal  part  of  the  branches,  the  branchlets  of  which  have  been 
trained  in  continuous  winding  circles  so  that  the  leaves  and  young  shoots 
now  rest  on  thick  layers  of  twisted,  interlaced,  stiffened  wood,  the  accu¬ 
mulated  training  of  many  scores  of  years.  The  garden  and  the  islands 
on  the  lake  are  planted  chiefly  with  Pines,  Acers  and  Azaleas  in  excellent 
taste.  In  the  courtyard  before  the  monastery  is  a  fine  specimen  of  an 
Evergreen  Oak  ;  the  priests  call  it  “  Ichii  ”  (Quercus  Gilva).  The  stem 
is  4  feet  in  diameter,  straight  and  even,  the  head  round  and  symmetrical, 
the  total  height  about  45  feet. 
About  ten  miles  due  south  from  Kyoto  is  the  village  of  Uji,  surrounded 
by  Tea  plantations,  long  famous  as  producing  the  finest  Tea  in  Japan. 
The  Tea  plant  is  cultivated  in  a  way  different  from  what  I  have  seen 
elsewhere.  In  nearly  all  the  fields  the  plants  in  the  rows,  ranging  from 
2^  to  4.}  feet  high,  were  so  old  and  so  inter-grown  that  each  row  was  a 
thick  hedge  several  feet  through,  and  only  once  did  I  notice  solitary 
specimensi  Picking  commences  the  second  week  in  May,  after  which 
the  Tea  is  cleaned  over  by  girls  in  the  peasants’  houses,  and  then  subse¬ 
quently  rolled  between  the  hands  of  coolies.  There  are,  of  course,  no 
great  drying  or  cleaning  establishments,  each  peasant’s  house  working 
independently  in  a  small  way.  Many  fields  were  entirely  covered  with 
straw  mats  on  a  low  scaffolding  of  poles,  and  if  looked  at  from  above, 
such  as  from  a  high  part  of  the  road,  one  looked  down  on  several  acres 
of  mats.  I  assume  that  this  is  done  on  account  of  the  plants  having 
reached  a  picking  stage,  and,  it  being  impossible  owing  to  the  cost  of 
labour  to  pick  all  the  fields  at  once,  the  owners  endeavour  to  retard  the 
further  growth  of  Che  young  shoots.  Kain  and  sun  are  excluded,  and 
almost  all  light,  for  even  from  the  roof  of  mats  a  row  hung  down  all 
round  each  field,  the  tops  of  the  plants  being  hidden  from  view.  One  of 
the  choicest  kinds  is  the  Gyokuro  (Jewelled  Dew),  varying  in  price  from 
5  to  7^  dols.,  equal  to  148.  3d.  and  218.  3d.  per  lb.  The  Uji  plantations 
are  said  to  date  from  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  though  it  is  believed 
Tea  was  introduced  to  Japan  from  China  by  a  Buddhist  Abbot — Dengyo 
DaisLi — as  far  back  as  the  year  805. 
♦  *  ♦  ♦  ♦  * 
The  most  famous  place  in  Japan  for  Wistarias  is  the  Temple  of 
Temmangu  at  Kameido,  a  suburb  of  this  vast  city.  Bound  a  pond 
(bridged  by  a  characteristic  semi-circular  Japanese  stone  bridge)  in 
front  of  the  temple  are  numerous  plants  both  of  the  white  and  blue 
Wistaria,  trained  on  a  flat  Bamboo  support  about  6  feet  from  the  ground. 
These  trees  are  of  great  age,  and  produce  many  hundreds  of  racemes, 
each  from  15  to  18  inches  in  length  ;  they  hang  down  through  their 
trellited  roof  in  the  most  glorious  profusion,  and  present  certainly  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  floral  sights  in  Japan.  The  white  variety,  known  as 
W.  macrobotrys,  seems  to  flower  a  week  later,  but  the  plants  are  equally 
old  and  equally  profuse  with  their  magnificent  racemes.  Beneath  these 
Wistarias  are  many  low  broad  benches,  on  which  the  Japanese  sit, 
sipping  their  tea  and  smoking.  Around  the  pond  children  play,  feeding  the 
carp  and  gold  fish,  whilst  through  the  centre  of  the  grounds,  over  the  semi¬ 
circular  stone  bridge,  wends  the  ever-constant  stream  of  Shintoists  going 
to  worship  Sugawara-no-Michizane  in  the  temple  known  as  Temman- 
Daijizai,  “The  Perfectly  Free  and  Heaven-filling  Heavenly  Divinity.” 
One  of  the  most  curious  sights  of  Tokio  is  the  Oji-zo-sama,  a  fair 
held  nightly  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  at  which  are  sold  toys,  plants, 
&c.  The  flower  and  plant  stalls  are  the  most  numerous.  The  fair,  if  it 
may  so  be  called,  is  held  in  this  quarter  not  a  stone’s  throw  from  the 
outer  moat  of  the  Imperial  Palace,  and  along  the  “  Ginza,”  the  great 
main  artery  of  Tokio,  on  the  7th,  18th,  and  29th  of  each  mouth,  always 
at  night.  That  held  on  the  18th  of  April,  1892, 1  visited,  and  rarely  saw 
a  more  striking  spectacle.  Along  each  side  of  many  streets  were 
arranged  booths,  in  front  of  each  flaring  lamps,  giving  a  strange  colour 
to  the  Pines,  the  Pinks,  the  Ardisia  berries,  and  delicate  Tea  Roses.  On 
a  low  seat  sat  the  owner,  a  peasant,  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  selling  at 
low  prices  the  productions  of  his  bit  of  ground,  situated  somewhere  in 
the  outskirts  of  the  city.  Ever  to  and  fro  wandered  a  thick  crowd  of 
the  poorest  classes,  clean  in  person,  for  no  Jap  is  anything  else,  but  wear¬ 
ing  clothes  old  and  worn,  betokening  their  lowly  state.  Often  one  saw 
people  carrying  away  their  purchases — an  old  woman,  bent  with  age, 
carefully  bearing  off  an  old  dwarfed  Pine  as  bent,  crooked,  and  old  as 
herself  j  or  a  young  girl  with  a  child  strapped  to  her  back,  carrying  in 
her  hand  a  porcelain  tray,  holding  a  piece  of  stone  resembling  a  rock 
which  had  on  its  sides  a  stone  lantern  or  two,  at  its  base  a  small  house, 
and  around  it  pebbles,  to  be  subsequently  covered  with  water  to  represent 
a  lake ;  also  on  its  summit  a  clump  of  fresh  green  growing  Acorus 
gramineus,  a  toy  and  a  plant.  Nature  and  Art  in  one,  lake,  rock,  house, 
lantern  and  forest  reduced  to  the  space  of  a  dozen  square  inches.  The 
Pinks  were  lovely,  splendidly  cultivated,  and  Ardisia  crispa  was  well  berried. 
Potentilla  fruticosa  was  amongst  the  flowering  plants,  though  the  most 
numerous  of  all  were  Roses.  Pines,  Retinosporas,  and  Cycas  were  the 
favourites  amongst  the  non-flowering  plants.  To  watch  all  this  was  a 
curious  and  entertaining  sight — the  glare  of  the  lamps,  the  stalls,  the 
thick  crowd,  sometimes  impassable,  the  noise  of  the  vendors  praising 
their  plants,  the  purchasers  quarrelling  over  the  price,  the  ceaseless 
clack-clack  of  the  wooden  shoes,  the  constant  laughter  on  all  sides  ;  now 
varied  by  a  sabred  policeman,  scarcely  over  5  feet  high,  removing  firmly 
some  unfortunate  who  had  partaken  too  freely  of  sakd ;  now  by  a  band 
of  socialists  pushing  and  elbowing  their  way  through  the  harmless  throng. 
(To  bo  concluded.) 
THE  MANRESA  VINE. 
There  is  always  a  certain  amount  of  diflficulty  in  writing  on  a 
subject  that  has  hitherto  been  dealt  with.  There  is  the  fear  that 
without  knowing  it  one  is  apt  to  go  over  the  same  ground  again  ;  then 
there  is  the  natural  aspiration  to  tell  of  something  new  or  out  of 
the  ordinary.  This  is  exactly  the  position  in  which  one  feels  placed 
when  commencing  to  write  about  the  Manresa  Vine.  New  it  is  not,  as 
every  constant  peruser  of  the  Joiiriial  of  Bortic%ilture  has  read  more 
than  one  account  of  it ;  but  extraordinary  it  is  without  doubt,  so  extra¬ 
ordinary  in  fact  that  in  this  alone  there  is  sufficient  reason  for  it  again 
appearing  in  the  columns  of  the  Journal.  Everybody  is  of  course 
acquainted  with  such  famous  Vines  as  those  at  Hampton  Court  and 
Cumberland  Lodge,  but  if  you  were  to  tell  the  average  Londoner  that 
the  most  wonderful  Vine  in  the  kingdom  is  within  a  ’bus  ride  of 
Charing  Cross,  well,  the  chances  are  that  without  using  stronger 
language— he  would  not  believe  you. 
True  the  Manresa  Vine  boasts  no  antiquity  or  historical  reputation 
like  those  aforementioned,  but  it  is  the  absence  of  what  makes  those 
Vines  so  famous  that  renders  the  one  at  Manresa  still  more  wonderful — 
namely,  the  fact  that  the  hand  that  planted  the  cutting  from  which  it 
has  sprung  still  tends  it  with  a  fostering  care  and  a  justifiable  pride. 
Manresa  House  is  a  Roman  Catholic  collegiate  establishment  situated 
in  the  little  old-fashioned  village  of  Roehampton  —  a  south-western 
suburb  of  the  Metropolis.  Fruit  generally  is  well  grown  there,  as  it 
also  is  at  many  another  place  about  which  little  is  known  in  the  horti¬ 
cultural  world.  The  gardener,  Mr.  M.  Davis,  while  being  a  quiet 
unassuming  man  who  would  be  slow  to  seelt,  notoriety,  is  a  keen  observer 
and  a  sound  horticulturist,  though  he  little  thought  when  over  thirty 
years  ago  he  was  preparing  a  Black  Hamburgh  cutting  for  the  purpose 
of  growing  leaves  outdoors  for  decorative  purposes,  that  through  that 
act  he  was  making  Manresa  famous  and  placing  himself  in  the  unique 
position  of  being  the  man  who  to-day  can  claim  to  have  raised  and 
brought  this  Vine  to  a  marvellous  perfection. 
Mr.  Davis  is  proud  of  this  masterpiece  of  Grape  culture,  as  indeed 
he  has  a  right  to  be,  and  tells  with  unassumed  modesty  of  how  the  Vine 
grew  so  well  from  the  cutting  that  he  was  induced  to  carry  one  of  its 
rods  across  a  walk  into  a  cool  house,  how  it  rapidly  filled  that,  and  a 
heated  structure  was  erected  over  the  Vine,  how  it  increased  still  further 
till  now  it  occupies  a  lean-to  house  224  feet  long.  In  the  training  of 
the  Vine  one  sees  the  work  of  a  master  hand,  there  being  ho  undue 
crowding,  no  confusion  of  rods  or  laterals,  but  everything  regular,  in 
order,  and  as  it  should  be.  Seven  canes  are  trained  horizontally  and 
parallel  the  whole  length  of  the  house ;  so  that  if  the  reader  will  try  and 
Imagine  seven  long  rows  of  bunches,  large  in  berry  and  of  good  colour, 
averaging  nearly  1^  lb.  each,  and  making  a  total  of  951  clusters,  he  will 
have  an  idea  of  the  vinery  as  seen  by  the  writer  a  few  days  ago,  a  sight 
extraordinary  and  I  venture  to  say  unparalleled. 
The  stem  at  the  base  is  more  like  that  of  a  forest  tree  than  a 
Vine,  and  the  laterals,  which  are  spur- pruned,  have  been  restricted  to 
the  upper  side  of  the  rods,  with  the  result  that  the  bunches  are 
uniform  in  position  and  the  sun  has  free  play  through  the  foliage, 
no  mean  factor  towards  the  thorough  ripening  of  the  wood,  A  striking 
feature  in  respect  to  the  Vine  is  its  cleanliness.  No  trace  of  any  pest  can 
be  seen,  every  leaf  being  large,  green,  and  of  that  leathery  texture  that  a 
gardener  loves  to  see,  while  the  laterals  are  firm ,  nut  brown,  and  short- 
jointed — a  capital  illustration  of  ripened  wood.  A  visitor,  who  by 
the  way  is  an  amateur  and  grows  Vines,  also  red  spider,  asked  Mr, 
Davis  how  he  managed  when  attacked  by  that  pest.  “We  never  get 
it,”  was  the  quiet  reply,  and  the  ammonia  which  arises  from  the 
mulching  of  horse  droppings  to  some  extent  explains  the  reason. 
Not  only  is  the  Manresa  Vine  a  wonderful  sight,  but  it  forms  an 
excellent  object  lesson  in  Grape  culture,  inasmuch  as  its  rooting  medium 
is  a  natural  one,  the  only  border  provided  for  it  being  the  free  loam  of 
the  garden,  and  its  only  artificial  support  frequent  applications  of  liquid 
manure  to  the  roots  under  cover.  How  often  one  hears  of  instances 
