CHAPTER XIX.

Tea-plants, &c., taken to Hong-kong- Shipped for India - I sail again for the north- Shanghae gardens in spring —" South Garden "Double-striped peach and other plants-Moutan gardens. - Fine new varieties of the tree-pæony - Chinese method of propagating them - Mode of sending them to Canton - Value thereIntroduction to Europe-Size in England-Azalea gardensSkimmia Reevesiana - New Azaleas - The "Kwei-wha "- The Glycine Its native hills-Chinese mode of training it - The yellow Camellia.

In the month of August the weather was excessively hot. As exposure to the sun at this time of the year is attended with great danger, and as I had some hard work before me in the autumn, I did not wish to run the risk of being laid up with fever. I therefore remained quietly under Mr. Beale's hospitable roof until the end of September.

In October and November I procured a large supply of tea-seeds and young plants from Hwuychow, and from various parts of the province of Chekiang. These were all brought to Shanghae in order to be prepared and packed for the long voyage to India. When they were all gathered together into Mr. Beale's garden they formed a collection of great interest. Here were tea-plants, not only from Silver Island, Chusan, and the districts about Ning-po, but also from the far-famed countries of Sung-loshan and the Woo-e hills. A number of Ward's glazed cases were now got ready for the reception of

the plants, and the whole of them were taken down to Hong-kong under my own care. They were then divided and sent on to Calcutta by four different vessels, in case of accident.

As soon as I had got all the plants put on board I left Hong-kong again for the north. My object now was to engage some first-rate tea manufacturers for the Indian plantations, to procure a supply of the implements used in the best districts for the manufacture of tea, and to get together another large collection of tea-plants.

I reached Shanghae in the month of April, 1850. The winter had passed away, and spring was just commencing. Trees and shrubs were bursting into leaf and flower, birds were singing gaily in every bush, and all nature was teeming with life and joy.

Taking advantage of the fine weather and a few days of leisure I determined to make a tour of the gardens near Shanghae, some of which are of considerable interest.

The first I visited is about two miles from the south-west corner of the city, and is now well known to the foreign residents as the "South Garden.” It was one of those in which I had found many new plants on my first visit to China.

This little garden covers about an acre of land, and is surrounded, like many of these places, by a ditch, which is connected with canals through which the tide ebbs and flows. On entering the gate, the first object which one notices is the gardener's house. It is a rude building of one story, and contains the

old couple, two sons with their wives, and a large number of young children. The Chinese in the country always live in little colonies of this description. When a son marries, the wife is brought home, and a portion of the building is set apart for their use. Here they live together in the most harmonious manner, and the grandchildren, when they grow up and marry, occupy a part of the same buildings, rarely leaving the place of their birth.

Ah, you have come back!" "Are you well?" "How did the plants get home?" "Were they much admired in England?" were the questions which were rapidly put to me by the old nurseryman and his sons; at the same time they brought a chair, and asked me to sit down under the awning of the cottage. I told them that most of the plants had arrived safely in England, that they had been greatly admired, and that the beautiful Weigela had even attracted the notice of her Majesty the Queen. All these statements, more particularly the last, seemed to give them great pleasure; and they have doubtless fancied the Weigela of more value ever since.

This garden contains many of the beautiful plants introduced by the Horticultural Society of London from 1843 to 1846. Amongst some pots at the entrance there were fine plants of the now wellknown Weigela, the pretty Indigofera decora, Forsythia viridissima, and a fine white variety of Wistaria sinensis. Round the sides of the ditch were many magnificent specimens of Edgeworthia chrysantha, and Gardenia florida Fortuniana, growing

in the open ground. Some of the Gardenias were 4 feet high and 15 feet in circumference. When covered with its large camellia-looking blossoms it is extremely handsome, and at all times forms a pretty evergreen bush. In a bed in the middle of the garden the white variety of Platycodon grandiflorus was in full bloom, and near it another bed of Dielytra spectabilis. Both these looked Both these looked very handsome, particularly the latter; its large purse-like blooms of a clear red colour, tipped with white, and hanging down gracefully from a curved spike, and its moutanlike leaves, render it a most interesting plant, and one which will become a great favourite in English gardens. Several kinds of roses were growing in pots, and amongst them the new yellow, or salmon-coloured, introduced by the Horticultural Society. This rose deserves more notice at home than it has yet had ; doubtless it will be more thought of when it is better· known and properly treated. It should be planted out at the foot of a wall with a southern or western aspect, and allowed to scramble over it. It grows rapidly; the flowers are of a striking colour, and are produced in great profusion. Fine plants of Viburnum plicatum, and V. macrocephalum, were also noticed, both in pots and also in the open ground.

I also observed some young plants of the interesting palm-tree (Chamaerops (?) excelsa) which I have already noticed in the earlier pages of this work. It is perfectly hardy about Shanghae, and thrives there unprotected throughout the severest winters. There

were other palms, but this was the only one that seemed hardy.

Here were also some beautiful peach-trees with double flowers. Two of these have been already described by Dr. Lindley in the Journal of the Horticultural Society,' and named the "double white" and "double crimson" peaches. But, fine as these undoubtedly are, there is a third far more beautiful and striking than either of them. This produces large double white flowers, which are striped with red or crimson lines like a carnation. A tree of this variety in full bloom is one of the most beautiful objects that can be imagined. Sometimes the branches "sport," and produce self-coloured flowers-the colours being, in this case, either white or crimson. This fine tree is now safely in England, and in a few years it may be expected to produce a marked effect in our gardens early in spring.

These double peach-trees seem to be particularly well adapted for forcing, as they form their flowerbuds fully in autumn, and are ready to burst into bloom with the first warm days in spring. A little artificial heat, therefore, will bring them into full flower about the new year, or any time from that period up to March.

As spring flowers they are highly prized by the Chinese. Itinerant gardeners carry them about the streets for sale in the northern Chinese towns. The flower-buds are then just beginning to expand; the buyer puts them into pots, gives them a little water, and places them in his window or sitting-room. In a