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June  9,  1934.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
that  land  has  a  value  when  cultivated  on  agri-horticulture  lines  ; 
cultivated  for  agricultural  purposes  as  though  meant  for  horti¬ 
culture ;  cropping  in  winter,  even  though  the  crop  has  to  be 
dug  in,  and  cultivating  a  greater  assortment  of  crops.  The 
native  not  only  gj'ows  wheat  and  cotton  for  sale,  but  he  also 
grows  baidey,  rice,  and  vegetables  for  his  owui  supply.  All  this, 
of  course,  means  small  holdings. 
His  position  as  a  gardener  I  neither  condemn  nor  praise, 
because  his  ideas  are  so  different  from  ours.  Then  here,  to  a 
certain  extent,  he  has  acquired  some  European  ideas,  so  that 
till  I  come  across  the  real  unadulterated  article  I  must  reserve 
my  opinion.  This  I  will  say  for  him,  judging  by  my  owm  men, 
the  plants  he  understands  he  grows  well,  some  as  well  as  I  have 
ever  seen.  For  instance, his  Show'  and  Fancy  Pelargoniums  must 
resemble  those  of  our  forefathers.  I  have  seen  plants  here 
3,  4,  oft.  through.  At  heart  he  is  a  real  plant  lover.  Like 
his  brother  at  home,  a  flower  show  deserves  all  he  can  possibly 
do  to  make  preparation  for  it.  He  will  visit  every  garden  in 
the  vicinity,  and  compare  notes,  and  borrow  cuttings  from  his 
brother  tradesmen.  They  also  have  a  strong  guild  which  meets 
frequently  at  a  tea-house,  w'here,  after  refreshing  themselves 
with  tea,  one  of  the  number  gives  a  lecture.  The  chairman 
of  this  guild  is  a  very  intelligent,  influential,  and  wealthy  man. 
Whenever  I  want  anything  I  just  call  on  him,  and  if  it  is 
obtainable  within  six  days’  journey,  he  will  get  it!  Nearly  all 
the  gardenei’s  here  are  nurserymen.  The  towm  literally  sw'arms 
with  them,  and  nearly  all  have  a  few'  glass  houses.  His  idea  of 
plants  is  not  usually  the  grow'ing  of  them  so  much  as  the  training 
of  them.  With  bamboo  he  can  imitate  nearly  every  shape,  and 
so  neatly  does  he  do  this  that  his  framew'ork  is  never  over- 
evident.  In  laying  out  a  garden,  the  same  principle  applies. 
Thus  a  rockery  is  intersected  by  innumerable  walks,  steps,  &c. 
The  stones  are  cemented  together  to  form  w'alls  w'ith  numerous 
pockets.  Flat  surfaces  he  also  objects  to,  so  that  his  garden  is 
all  rounded  mounds,  depressions,  w'alks,  and  arbours.  You  are 
on  a  different  level  every  minute.  Straight  lines  he  never  has, 
more  than  flat  surfaces. 
As  a  labourer  he  is  very  fair — never  in  a  hurry.  Hurry  he 
can’t  understand.  His  favourite  w'ord  (one  you  hear  very  fre¬ 
quently)  is  “  maskie  ” — i.e.,  never  mind,  or,  any  time  will  do. 
In  dealing  wdth  us  foreigners  another  favourite  phrase  is,  “I 
no  savie  ’’^ — I  don’t  understand.  This  is  a  useful  phrase.  Rage 
him  for  neglect,  ask  him  to  do  what  he  does  not  want  to,  or 
ask  him  w'hy  he  did  something  w'rong,  his  answ^er  is  the  same ; 
but  to  give  my  foremen  justice,  they  rarely  use  it,  except  now 
and  again,  then  possibly  I  am  to  blame.  They  take  a  deal  of 
pains  to  understand  me. 
When  one  recognises  how  little  English  they  really  know, 
you  would  laugh  to  hear  us  talk  in  our  pigeon  English.  A  few 
years  of  this,  if  I  spend  nine  hours  a  day  talking  to  them  as  I 
do  now',  I  fear  my  mother  tongue  w'ill  be  sadly  distorted.  But 
despite  the  fact  that  he  is  called  a  liar,  rogue,  and  every  other 
invective  under  the  sun,  I  rather  like  the  “heathen.”  It  is 
scarcely  fair  to  call  him  a  heathen,  though  heathen  he  is  cer¬ 
tainly,  because  he  worships  idols ;  yet  his  is  a  comfortable 
religion.  Unlike  the  majority  of  Asiatics,  he  is  far  from  being 
fanatic.  Caste,  or  such  like,  is  unknown.  Generally  speaking, 
his  religion  is  more  a  moral  code.  He  understands  honour 
betw'een  man  and  man,  and,  although  he  asks  for  more  than 
his  article  for  disposal  is  w'orth,  yet  this  is  more  a  habit,  as  he 
never  expects  to  get  what  he  asks.  As  a  husband  he  is  exem¬ 
plary,  as  he  never  lifts  his  hand  to  strike  a  woman.  Sometimes 
he  allow'S  his  wife  to  beat  him.  I  say  allow'S,  because  he  never 
retaliates,  making  good  his  escape  as  soon  as  he  can.  As  far 
as  I  know,  the  Chinese  woman  does  not  work  outside  that  of 
housekeeping  for  her  husband,  wdth  the  exception  that  a  few  are 
nurses  and  mill  workers.  This  is  easily  explained  wdien  it  is  re¬ 
cognised  that  nearly  all  w'omen  are  married,  and  that  at  an  early 
age.  There  are  husbands  for  every  woman,  because  a  man  has 
as  many  w'ives  as  he  can  afford  to  keep.  Remember,  this  about 
w'omen  not  earning  their  living  applies  to  Shanghai,  not  to 
China,  because  I  know  that  at  Hong  Kong  the  women  repair 
the  roads,  &c.  The  moral  standard  of  the  woman  is  high.  She 
is  a  faithful  wife,  and  prostitution  is  almost  unknown.  Shanghai 
swarms  wdth  the  latter  class,  but  they  are,  I  regret  to  say, 
chiefly  American  and  Portuguese.  If  a  native  w'oman  lives  with 
a  foreigner  she  is  looked  dow'n  upon  by  the  poorest,  but  this 
rarely  occui's,  as  the  native  women  rarely  consent  to  this  union. 
Drinking  intoxicants  is,  as  far  as  I  am  aw'are,  never  indulged  in 
by  them— tea  is  their  beverage.  Opium  here  has  not  much 
effect,  as  it  is  not  much  indulged  in. 
All  this  applies  to  the  native  in  Shanghai,  but  he  differs  in 
many  respects  from  his  southern  brother.  Here  he  is  much  more 
active,  stronger,  and  more  independent  than  are  those  in  the 
south,  w'here  they  are  more  akin  to  slaves,  consequently  greater 
rogues,  but  I  should  guess  they  w'ould  be  easier  kept  in  com¬ 
mand  than  w'ould  the  Shanghai  native  if  a  rising  occurred.  The 
only  w'ay  I  can  account  for  this  difference  is,  that  here  he  takes 
his  part  in  everything,  from  governing  to  the  day’s  lahour, 
whilst  in,  say,  Hong  Kong,  he  is  merely  a  servant.  Then  even 
here  there  are  differences  ’twdxt  them.  Thus,  those  employed 
at  draining,  making  roads,  Ac.,  can  be  sworn  at  or  thrashed, 
yet  it  does  not  make  any  difference  ;  whilst  those  I  employ  I 
dale  not  rage  f^scold)  much,  else  they  w'alk  off;  yet  the  two  lots 
^  equally.  In  dealing  w'ith  them  I  have  closely  w'atched 
different  treatment.  Some  men  are  continually 
striking  them  and  knocking  them  dowui,  yet  I  can’t  see  they 
make  them  do  more.  My  impression  is  that  the  native  looks 
upon  a  display  of  passion  as  weakness,  consequently  he  loses  re¬ 
spect  for  the  angry  person. 
D  ^  little  about  my  charge.  Firstly,  .the 
Public  Garden  is  somewhat  small,  about  3  acres  in  extent  but 
if  small  it  contains  plenty  flow'er  beds.  It  also  has  a  fountain— 
t\yo,  I  might  say,  one  being  small.  In  the  centre  is  a  bandstand 
where  the  town  band  plays  every  evening  from  May  till  October. 
Ur  summer  houses  there  are  fourj  also  an  arbour  formed  of 
1  ustic  w'ood  and  covered  w'ith  climbers.  Then,  of  course,  there 
IS  a  rockery — -“a  la  Chinese.”  The  Chinese  garden  is  some- 
w'hat  similar  in  size  and  form.  The  glass  houses  are  six  in 
number,  consisting  of  conservatory,  greenhouse,  intermediate 
house,  stove,  and  tw'o  propagating  pits.  Here  my  office  is 
located.  It  is  commodious,  fitted  with  electric  fittings,  and  also 
contains  w'hat  I  possess  of  a  library ^ — little  enough,  but  it  will 
be  added  to.  Here  I  receive  the  foremen’s  report  each  morning. 
In  addition  to  this  there  are  two  recreation  parks  (one  2  acres 
111  extent,  the  other  70  acres),  the  Municipal  Council  Compound, 
five  cemeteries  (the  largest  10  acres,  the  smallest  4  acres  in 
extent),  and  the  foreshores  of  the  river,  consisting  of  tw’o  miles 
of  lawns,  400ft.  wide.  Then  I  have  the  planting  and  main¬ 
tenance  of  the  trees  on  the  roads  and  streets  to  attend  to,  also 
the  laying  out  of  all  ground  in  connection  with  municipal  build¬ 
ings,  from  jails  to  council  chambers.  As  nearly  all  these  places 
have  many  flower  gardens  it  takes  some  nursery  ground  to  supply 
them.  Altogether  w'e  possess  25  acres  of  nursery  ground, 
divided  into  five  nurseries  and  somew'hat  scattered,  one  being 
six  miles  distant  from  the  gardens.  Collectively  they  contain 
at  present  115,300  trees  and  shrubs  (chiefly  young  trees  for 
street  planting),  in  addition  to  a  supply  of  flowering  plants.  To 
work  this  requires  on  an  average  about  150  men,  though  I  have  at 
times  as  many  as  400.  They  are,  as  a  rule,  easily  obtained. 
One  tells  the  foreman  at  night,  and  next  morning  he  will  get 
them.  Those  extra  men  are  usually  required  for  additional  w'ork 
over  and  above  that  mentioned.  Of  foremen  I  have  nine  per¬ 
manent  hands.  The  Public  Garden,  Chinese  Garden,  and  glass 
houses  are  under  another  hand  called  gardener.  Then  there  is 
what  is  know'll  as  No.  1 — he  W'lio  gives  orders  to  all  the  foremen, 
checks  their  w'ork  and  labour,  in  fact  superintends  everything. 
In  the  office  I  have  a  clerk,  whose  labour  is  light,  yet  I 
could  not  dispense  with  him,  for  he  is  all  I  have  to  depend  on 
for  translations.  The  150  employes  I  referred  to  only  do  the 
upkeeping,  all  extra  w'ork  I  let  out  on  contract,  merely  super¬ 
vising  it.  The  contractors  in  making  tenders  for  the  work  of 
course  do  so  in  their  ow'ii  language,  so  it  is  here  that  the  clerk 
comes  in  useful.  Of  w'hat  I  term  outside  w'ork,  I  have  at  pre¬ 
sent  in  hand  the  raising,  levelling,  and  turfing  of  1  acre  of 
groupd  at  a  police  station,  laying  out  grounds  around  a  nursing 
home,  and  preparing  plans  and  estimates  for  laying  out  a  new 
park  of  40  acres,  and  only  a  portion  will  be  done  this  year.  Also 
the  laying  out  of  grounds  round  a  new  hospital,  consisting  of 
3  acres,  and  the  making  of  an  addition  to  the  Public  Garden. 
They  kept  plenty  work  in  hand  pending  my  arrival.  This  class 
of  work  entails  a  good  deal  of  thought,  because  before  I  can  ask 
for  tenders  from  contractors,  I  have  to  measure  and  take  levels 
to  ascertain  wdiat  raising  is  required,  Ac.,  then  from  that  I 
make  an  estimate  of  the  approximate  cost.  By  this  estimate 
I  can  check  their  tenders.  Then  in  measurements  I  have  to  deal 
with  that  of  the  native  as  well  as  the  British.  The  native  land 
measure  is  “mow,”  about  one-sixth  acre,  and  “  cong,”  about 
100  sq.  ft.  His  cubic  measure  is  in  “  fongs,”  100  cubic  ft.  equals 
1  fong.  His  linear  measure  is  a  “  chang,”  100  ft.  Then  his 
quotations  are  all  in  taels  and  tael  cents.  A  tael  equals  about 
2s.  6d.,  containing  100  cents.  This  has  to  be  converted  into 
dollars,  and  dollar  cents,  the  dollar  being  equal  to  about  Is.  lOd., 
but  this  varies  nearly  every  day.  The  tael  being  somew'hat  of  a 
standard  coin,  does  not  fluctuate  so  much  as  the  dollar,  so 
each  day  you  have  to  calculate  how  many  dollars  are  in  so  inan.y 
taels. 
This  time  I  do  not  propose  telling  you  about  the  plants, 
what  we  grow,  when  w'e  sow',  Ac.  That' information  I  will  re¬ 
serve  for  another  time,  w'hen  I  w'ill  tell  you  about  gardening  in 
China.  The  only  thing  I  w'ill  say  is  that  Magnolia  grandiflora 
is  here  as  handsome  a  tree  as  one  could  w'ish  to  see,  and  that 
the  best  flow'ering  tree  at  present  is  Cercis  chinensis.  It  is 
beautiful  just  now',  the  wdrole  branches  (leafless)  are  wreathed 
in  flow'ers.  Houses  are  very  dear  here,  as  also  are  luxuries,  but 
living  is  very  cheap.  A  dinner  of  four  courses  costs  a  mere  trifle, 
and  a  cook  costs  about  £13  a  ,vear ;  for  this  he  provides  his  own 
food. — Donald  MacGregor,  Superintendent  Parks  and  Open 
Spaces,  Shanghai.  _ _ _  i 
A  Compliment  to  “Old  Jim.”, — A  con-espondent  says:  “I 
hope  '  Old  Jim  ’  may  long  live  to  give  us  of  his  interesting 
experiences,  as  no  truer  words  than  his  could  be  written,  and 
they  are  enough  to  remove  any  gardener  out  of  the  dumps,  for 
no  one  could  read  ‘  Jim  ’  without  having  a  good  laugh,  £ 
am  sure.” 
