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582 Fond, however, as the English are of their gardens, they would appear to be excelled in this respect by the Japanese. Every one of these singular people, both rich and poor, are said to have a garden; the latter, if possible, both in front as well as in the rear of their cottages. In them they cultivate the plum and the cherry, not for the fruit, but for the flower. By a peculiar treatment they improve them so much as to make the flowers become as large as roses. Indeed it is stated that plum blossoms have been seen four times the size of our common cabbage roses. In the season, when they are in full blossom, these trees afford a delightful sight in the gardens, and about the temples, and public walks.

They also practise the art of dwarfing trees to a great extent. Le Baron Léon de St. Denys, in his work entitled “Recherches sur L’Agriculture et L’Horticulture des Chinois,” Paris, 1850, contains some valuable information on the method of producing these interesting and miniature plants. The system is not confined to a few sorts of plants, for they can dwarf all. A box was offered for sale in which were flourishing a fir-tree, a bamboo, and a plum-tree, the latter in blossom. The box was only three inches long and one inch wide. 1,200 florins was asked for it. The florin varies so much that I am not aware what this would amount to in English money. Another very small box contained miniature specimens of every tree that grows on the Japan Islands.

They also enlarge their trees in an extraordinary manner. For instance, when the branches of some of them spring to the height of seven or eight feet from the ground, they are led out across ponds and supported on props, so as to afford a shade and covering of 300 feet in circumference.

The Japanese also pay great attention to their forest trees. They do not allow either their firs or cypress-trees to be cut down without the permission of the local magistrate. The cedars grow to a large size, some of them being eighteen feet in girth: Sir Edward Belcher, when making his surveys in the Japanese seas, was supplied with a quantity of spars, all of cedar, which measured ninety-six feet in length. All the temples in Japan are approached through thick avenues of evergreen trees. I think it was Pope who said that a tree was a nobler object than a prince in his coronation robes. This appears to have been the idea of the Japanese, from the care they take of them. They also enjoy that soft, fascinating, and what may be called poetical odour, which emanates from groves of cypress, clumps of cedar, and other evergreen trees. This odour may be considered as a natural, living, and growing incense offered up to Heaven at all seasons of the year, and at all times, by night as well as by day.

We are indebted to the Japanese for our beautiful camellias, and I am not sure whether this is not the case with my favourite Pœonia Moutan, or Chinese Peony, as representations of it may be seen on some of the Japan fans. It is certainly not indigenous at, or propagated in Canton, from which place, however, most of our varieties have been imported. It will always hold the first rank amongst flowers. It is a curious fact, that almost all the plants we have hitherto derived from Japan are either hardy or nearly so. For instance, the Pyrus Japonica is not only a beautiful but perfectly hardy shrub, and it is to be wondered at that it is not oftener planted as a protective hedge in flower and kitchen gardens, instead of Hornbeam or Laurel.

There is another very pretty shrub in Japan, called the Subacki, and I am not aware whether it has yet found its way into this country. It grows to rather a large size, and bears flowers not unlike large roses. The Japanese are said to give 900 different names to the varieties of this plant. It is to be hoped that increased intercourse with this singular people will add considerably to the riches of our flower gardens. This, however, is not likely as long as their trade is restricted to the Dutch. They are an honourable but very jealous nation, and attribute the late and present disastrous state of China to their having admitted strangers into their country for the purpose of trade. The consequence is that at present Japan may be considered as shut up from the rest of the world, and we are chiefly indebted to Dutch merchants for what little we know of it, and from whose writings some of these extracts have been taken. At all events, they appear a happy and contented people, strictly honest, and their wives and daughters eminently virtuous. They abound with schools for their children. Their cottages are picturesque, and few gardens are without a small rivulet, which, by the use of little contrivances, they make a source of enjoyment, as well as of beauty, by means of rocks and stones. It is evident, however, that they consider trees as among the most ornamental objects of scenery, and, as we have seen, they cultivate them with the greatest care. Indeed, what would our English scenery be, with its rivers, hills, and rocks, without the accompaniment of groups of trees?

It is probable that this interesting country will soon be better known, and that steam will be productive of that intercourse which cannot but end in our mutual advantage.

Those who have read the interesting works of Mr. Fortune on China, will see what great progress the inhabitants of that country have made in floriculture. They, like the Japanese, dwarf plants, and by a curious process of grafting, produce an immense quantity of the Chinese Peony, one of the finest and most beautiful flowers imported into this country. With a little winter protection, they will flourish well in this country, especially if planted in a rich loam. Some have grown from six to eight feet in height, and formed a bush from eight to ten feet in diameter. 2em

! ai! wail for Adonis!—the young Loves wail for him, ai! ai! Hurt on the hill lies Adonis the beautiful; torn with the boar’s tusk, Torn on the ivory thigh with the ivory tusk, his low gasping