Robert Fortune
Robert Fortune
Robert Fortune was a Scottish botanist, plant hunter and traveller, best known for introducing tea plants from China to India...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth16 September 1812
chinese gardeners growing plants purpose seen selecting
I have, however, often seen Chinese gardeners selecting suckers and plants for this purpose from the other plants which are growing in their garden.
confining hundred proceed ways
This may be done by grafting, by confining the roots, withholding water, bending the branches, or in a hundred other ways which all proceed upon the same principle.
branches came regular six size stem
The tree was evidently aged, from the size of its stem. It was about six feet high, the branches came out from the stem in a regular and symmetrical manner, and it had all the appearance of a tree in miniature.
sap woods way
We all know that any thing which retards in any way the free circulation of the sap, also prevents to a certain extent the formation of wood and leaves.
dwarves tree chinese
The plants which stand next to dwarf trees in importance with the Chinese are certainly chrysanthemums, which they manage extremely well, perhaps better than they do any other plant.
branches flow sides
The main stem was then in most cases twisted in a zigzag form, which process checked the flow of the sap, and at the same time encouraged the production of side branches at those parts of the stem where they were most desired.