Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

CHAP. I. GARDENS OF FOREIGN RESIDENTS.

15

attempt rearing vegetables on a large scale. He introduced asparagus, which now succeeds admirably at Shanghae, rhubarb, seakale, and all the vegetables common in English gardens. He also raised the strawberry from some seeds I sent him in 1846, and large quantities of this fine fruit were seen for the first time in Shanghae in the summer of 1850. The ground about the town is too low and wet for the growth of the potato, and hence no one has succeeded in rearing what would be called a good crop of this desirable vegetable. In the course of time, however, when the cultivation is attempted in the higher parts of the country, we may expect to get better potatoes here than at Macao, although the latter are usually most excellent.

The English consul, Mr. Alcock, has also a good vegetable garden on the grounds attached to the consulate. There is a noble plant of the Glycine sinensis in this garden, which flowers most profusely, and becomes covered with its long legumes, or pea-like fruit, which ripen to perfection.

The two most beautiful ornamental gardens are those of Mr. Beale and the Messrs. Mackenzie. Mr. Beale's house, a fine square building of two stories, is placed in the centre of the garden. In front is a fine grass lawn, which extends from the house to the boundary-wall near the river. Behind the house there is another lawn surrounded with a dwarf ornamental wall. A wide gravel walk, leading from the entrance to the back part of the garden, divides the house from the business part of the premises. This

garden is rich in plants indigenous to China, and also contains many which have been introduced from other parts of the world. On entering the gate the first thing which strikes a botanist is a fine specimen of the new funereal cypress, nearly six feet high, and just beginning to show its beautiful weeping habit. This has been obtained from the interior, as it is not found in the neighbourhood of Shanghae. Mr. Beale intends to plant another on the opposite side of the gate, and, when the two grow up, a very striking and pretty effect will be produced. In the same border there are fine specimens of Weigela rosea, Forsythia viridissima, Chimonanthus, Moutans, Lagerstroemias, roses, &c., and of nearly all the new plants sent home to the Horticultural Society from 1843 to 1846. In this part of the garden there is also a fine plant of the new Berberis japonica, lately obtained from the interior.

The American Magnolia grandiflora has been introduced here, and promises to be a very ornamental tree; its fine green leaves and noble flowers are much admired by the northern Chinese. Several plants of Cryptomeria japonica are succeeding admirably, and will soon be much more beautiful than any in this part of the country. The garden has been raised with a large quantity of fresh soil considerably above the level of the surrounding ground, so that all the family of the pines succeed much better than in those places where they are usually planted by the Chinese; besides, the latter generally spoil all the trees belonging to this family by lopping off the lower branches for firewood.

CHAP. I. GARDENS OF FOREIGN RESIDENTS.

17

Large quantities of the Olea fragrans, the Qui Wha, are planted in different parts of the garden. These succeed much better here than in the south of China. In the autumn, when they are in bloom, the air is perfumed with the most delicious fragrance. Another most fragrant plant is the new Gardenia (G. Fortuniana), now common in English gardens, to which it was introduced by the Horticultural Society in 1845. In Mr. Beale's garden many of the bushes of this charming species are ten or twelve feet in circumference, and in the season are covered with fine double white flowers, as large as a camellia, and highly fragrant. Altogether this is a most interesting garden, and promises to be to Shanghae what the well-known garden of Mr. Beale's father was to Macao.

The Messrs. Mackenzie's garden here is also well worthy of notice. It resembles some of those attached to the neat suburban residences near London. The shrubs are arranged with great taste in groups and single specimens on the lawn, and consist of all the species and varieties common in this part of China. The collection of Azaleas is particularly fine. During the summer time, when these plants are in bloom, they are placed on a stage, and protected from the sun and rain. They flower in great profusion; the individual flowers are larger, and the colours are more brilliant, than they are in England. Here, too, are gorgeous specimens of the new Viburnums (V. plicatum and V. macrocephalum) sent to Chiswick in 1845. The first English apple-tree fruited in this garden about a year ago.

C

The gentlemen connected with the London Missionary Society have a village of their own about a quarter of a mile back from the English town. Each house has a good garden in front of it, full of interesting Chinese shrubs and trees. Dr. Lockhart has the finest collection.

These short statements are sufficient to show what

has been done since the last war. Chinese plants have not only been introduced to Europe and America, to enliven and beautify our parks and gardens, but we have also enriched those of the Celestial Empire with the productions of the West. Nothing, I believe, can give the Chinese a higher idea of our civilisation and attainments than our love for flowers, or tend more to create a kindly feeling between us and them.

Before all these gardens could be stocked the demand for shrubs and trees was necessarily great, and varieties which in former days were comparatively rare about Shanghae have been brought down in boat-loads and sold at very low prices. Good young plants of Cryptomeria, three to four feet in height, are now sold for thirty cash each, about a penny of our money; a hundred fine bushy plants of the new Gardenia just noticed have frequently been bought for a dollar. It is amusing to see the boatloads of plants ranged along the river banks to tempt the eye of the English planter. They are chiefly brought from the large towns of Soo-chow and Hangchow, the former fifty miles distant, and the latter about a hundred.

[blocks in formation]

Mode of getting my head

dependence can be placed upon the Chinese Adopt the dress of the country Start for the interior

shaved City of Kea-hing-foo and its old cemetery

[ocr errors]

Mode of gathering the "ling"

[ocr errors]

1

Lakes and

Great silk country

Fear of thieves

"ling". Increase in exports City of Seh-mun-yuen Hang-chow-foo- The "Garden of China" - Description of the city and its suburbs - Gaiety of the people Adventure in the city Kan-du A "chop" - A Chinese inn I get no breakfast and lose my dinner-Boat engaged for Hwuy-chow - Importance of Hang-chow both for trading and "squeezing."

My object in coming thus far north was to obtain seeds and plants of the tea shrub for the Hon. East India Company's plantations in the north-west provinces of India. It was a matter of great importance to procure them from those districts in China where the best teas were produced, and I now set about accomplishing this object. There were various tea districts near Ning-po where very fair green teas were prepared for Chinese use; but these teas were not very well suited to the foreign market. It might be that the plant was precisely the same variety from which the finer sorts were made, and that the difference consisted only in climate, in soil, or, more likely still, in a different mode of manipulation. This might or might not be the case; no one, so far as I knew, had ever visited the Hwuy-chow district and brought away plants from the tea hills there. In these circum

« НазадПродовжити »