Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/160

 tiger upon the doorway as a talisman. At present, adds Mr. Mayers, the names of the two brothers are pasted on the entrance-doors of Chinese houses on New-Year's Eve, to guard the dwelling from harm. Peaches, too, figure largely in Chinese fairy tales and mythology, and formed part of the banquet prepared by the Royal Mother of the West when she paid a visit to the Emperor Chêng, better known as Shih Huang Ti; while a peach-garden was the scene of one of the most celebrated events in Chinese history, when the Oath of Brotherhood was taken between the three heroes who played so important a part in the historical romance of the "Three Kingdoms." There are many other interesting details connected with the peach-tree in Chinese literature, but we have no space to enlarge upon them. Some pundits aver that, properly speaking, the peach is an emblem, not of longevity, but of death; while Western theorists have attempted to connect it with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, whose fair fruit presented so fatal a temptation to our mother Eve. It seems, however, certain that, according to ancient writers, peaches were not admissible in sacrifice, that those with double kernels were a mysterious but unfailing poison, and that the premature fructification of one species of peach-tree was a harbinger of national calamity. All this may be very interesting, but it is not practical. We will conclude with two facts which have the merit of being both. The best manure for peach-trees, according to Chinese horticulturists, is snow; and a cold decoction of pig's-head, poured about the roots and into the trunk itself, is a sure remedy for the insects which prey upon it.