806. The different qualities o f the teas depend on the seasons for gathering, and the
method of preparing them. On this account different names are often given to teas
grown on the same tree. The last preparation whicli all the teas undergo is called
firing. This is putting them into cylinders of sheet iron, where they are roasted or baked
before the fire, until the te a has acquired the crispncss necessary to preserve it, and to
make it give out its odour. The best tea, if it gets damp, loses its fine smell. The
coarser teas are packed by the feet, but the finer teas arc put into the box by hand, and
in both cases great carc is taken to choose dry weather for packing them. This operation
is performed in wann rooms close shut, to exclude the least moisture. ‘VVlien packed,
the teas are enclosed in a leaden case, which is afterwards suiTOunded by the dry leaves
o fth e sngar-caiic, and then put into a wooden box. A Chinese tea smeller first crushes
the tea in his hand, and then breathes upon it to obtain the full smell. (Dobell’s Travels,
See., vol. ii. p. 336.)
807. The Chinese drink their tea without either milk or sugar: they partake of it
plentifully at thcir meals, and very frequently in the course of the day. One mode
of using it, amongst the higher ranks, is by grating into the cup balls made of the
most valuable leaves cemented together by some kind of tasteless gum. (G a rd Mag.,
vol. iv. p. 457.)
Division iii. Gardening in China, in respect to its Floricultural Productions.
808. The culture o f flowers and plants o f ornament seems very general in China. The
beantiful varieties of Camclh'a, Azalea, Rosa, Ghrysanthemum, Piedn/a, and of various
other genera, are. well known natives of that country.
809. Greenhouses are not unknown in China. Wathen (Journal o f a Voyage to China,
&c., 1814) describes the villa (^fig. 228.) of Pon-qua-qua, a rctii-ed merchant and
i
mandarin, as containing a greenhouse (a), an aviary (¿), a banqueting room open on
one side, a garden with the walks bordered with porcelain pots of orange trees and
camellias, and an immense banyan tree (F icu s benglialonsis).
Division iv. Chinese Gardening, as a Science, and as to ihe Authors it has produced.
810. The practice o f ihe Chinese is entirely empirical, though, as Mi*. Main obseiwcs,
they have some nide ideas of the sexual system. They are ignorant, however, of
chemistry and physiology, witliout some knowledge of which no cultivator can have
the slightest pretensions to be considered scientific. Notwithstanding this, the Chinese,
like the Greeks and Romans, who, in their day, were equally ignorant with the modern
Chinese of the sciences mentioned, have written books on g ard en in g ; for the existence
of books on any art is no proof of its advancement, whatever it may be of its popularity.
811. Among ihe Chinese hooks on gardening and agriculture is one entitled Tchoung-
kia-pao. This work, in fom volumes, begins, like that of Hesiod, with the elements of'
morality, and then proceeds to treat of all that is necessary to he known of tho country,
agriculture, laws, and medicine. This work formed part of the Chinese writings on
agriculture which were excluded from the general proscription of books in the third
centuiy after the Chiistian era. The Chinese have a fine poem on gardening, published
in 1086. The author was one o fth e first Chinese writers, and the greatest minister that
China has produced. His garden, which gives a general idea of the style of Chinese
gardening as an art of taste, contained only twenty acres of land. An apartment, containing
5000 volumes, is placed by the author at the head of its useful beauties. On
the south were seen in the midst of the waters, cascades, galleries with double ten-aces, and
hedges of rose and pomegranate tre e s ; on the west, a solitary portico, evergreen trees,
cottages, meadows, sheets of water sm-rounded with tm-f, and a labyrinth of ro ck s ; on
the north, cottages placed as if by chance, on little hills, and groves of bamboos with
gravel w a lk s ; on the east, a small plain, a wood of cedars, odoriferous plauts, me^
dicinal plants, shrubs, citron trees and orange trees, a walk of willows, a grotto, a
warren, islands covered with aviaries, bridges of wood and stone, a pond, some old
firs, and an extensive view over the river Kiang. Such was the delightful spot where
the author of the poem amused himself witlr hunting, fishing, and botany. At that
time we had no garden in Em-ope to be compared to it, nor any man who could describe
it in good poetry. Madame Dubocage translated a Chinese idyl into verse, entitled
The Labourer, and which has the same date as tliis poem on gardening. The imposing
ceremony of the commencement of the labours, by the emperor liimselfl in the beginning
of spring, is still more ancient in China. It was established 150 years before the
Christian era. The soldiers in Cliina plough, sow, and reap. In the tribunals of the
empire there is a president, superintendent, and director-general of agriculture. (^Olivier
de Serres, Historical Introd, to the edit o f 1804 ; Gard. Mag., vol. i. p. 449.)
S e c t . II. On thepresent State o f Gardening in Africa.
812. A s an art o f design and taste, there are but few specimens of gardening in
Africa ; and such as there are, in the same style which has prevailed from time immemorial,
viz. that of the countries of the East. The horticultm-c of Afi-ica is necessarily
influenced by its tropical climate, and characterised hy surface irrigation. We shall
glance, in succession, at Egypt, tlie Mahometan states of the north of Africa, the
western coast of Africa, South Africa, and the African Islands.
S u b s e c t . 1. On die present State o f Gardening in Egypt.
813. The country houses and gardens oi the pacha, and most of the rich hihahitants
of Grand Cairo, are situated at Boulak, near Old Cairo. The gai-dens arc said to be
weU stocked with date and other palm trees, and with the grape and some European
vegetables. In general, however, European fruits and vegetables do not thrive, on
account of the great heat and di-yness of the climate. {Bramsen’s Letters, &c.) The
gardens of Rosetta arc very numerous, and contain nearly all the vegetables grown in
Europe.
814. The gardens o f Alexandria, Miss Martineau, who visited Egypt in 1846, observes,
“ looked rude to om- European ey e s; but wo saw few so good afterwards. In the damp
plots grew herbs, and especially a kind of maUow, much in use for soups ; and cabbages,
put in among African fraits. Among great flowering oleanders, marvel of Peru, figs,
and oranges, were some familiar plants, cherished, I thought, with peculiar care, under
the windows of the consular liouses; — monthly roses, chrysanthemums, love-lics-hleedingi
geraniums, rosemary, and, of course, the African marigold. Many of these plots are
overshadowed by palms ; and they form, in fact, the ground of the palm-orchards, as wc
used to call them. Large clusters of dates were hanging from inidei- the fronds o fth e
palm s; and these were usually the most valuable product of the garden. The consular
gardens are not, of course, the most oriental in aspect. We do not see in them, as
in those belonging to the Arabs, the reservoir for Mohammedan ablution, nor the householder
on the margin winding on his turban after his bath, or prostrating liimself at his
prayers.”
815. Shoobra, the country scat o f Mohammed Pacha, is thus described by Mrs. Lush-
ington : — “ Proceeding by a fine road, planted on each side with acacias and sycamores,
whose gi-Q-vvtli, owing to the richness of the soil, kept pace with the impatient disposition
o fth e pacha, who had, at one sweep, cut clown the avenue of mulben-y trees three years
before, we an-ivcd at the house, which is situated close to the Nile, and commands a fine
prospect ofthe river and city. The exterior of the building exhibited nothing rcmarkalile.
On ascending a tcn-ace a few feet square, we passed through a rough wooden door,
such as is fit only for an outhouse, and found ourselves in the pacha’s room of audience.
The gardens of Shoobra, with their golden fruit and ai-omatic flowers, having heen already
described by former travellers, I shall pass on to the magnificent pavilion, which
constitutes the chief embellishment of the place, and which was completed only a few
weeks before my visit. This pavilion is about 250 feet long by 200 broad. On its
sides nm four galleries or colonnades, composed of elegant pillars of the finest white
marble (of an order resembling the composite), sun-ounding a sunken court of six feet
deep, paved throughout with the same beautiful material. A t each corner of the
colonnade is a ten-ace, over which water passes into the court below in a murmuring
cascade, having on its ledges figures of fish, sculptured so true to nature, that, with the
flowing stream, they appear to move. The whole supply of water rises again tlu-ough
a fountain in the centre, and re-appears in a beautiful jet-d’eau, lofty, sparkling, and
abundant. One seldom sees an exhibition of this chai-acter without apprehending a
failure of w a te r; but here the works are fed by the Nile, and the spectator is aware that
its exuberance will not cease. In fine weather the pacha occasionally resorts to this
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