"South-Coast Saunterings in England" by M.D. Conway (1869) includes these
lines:
There was printed in the
county of Hampshire a curious “Annual Repository,” two volumes of which
I have been enabled, through the kindness of a friend, to
examine. There are records of the agricultural, social and
religious condition of the various parishes in the county, and many
entertaining accounts of their antiquities…
The other extracts from these
volumes which seem worth preserving I shall give without connection, as
they are scattered in notes, letters, etc.: ...
“The Chinese dwarf tree, which the
accompanying drawing represents, is in the possession of Mr. Lance of
Chessel; it was brought from China 9 years ago, and is of the kind
described by Sir G. Staunton in his account of Lord Macartney’s
embassy, which the Chinese place on the low parapet walls that surround
the halls and apartments in their gardens. There is the greatest
reason to think that this tree can be clearly traced back to be 60
years old. It exactly represents an old forest tree. Its
leaf more resembles an elm than any of our other forest trees.
Its height is 18 inches, and the spread of its branches 24, its girt
6-1/4, the leaves ½ inch long. A cutting of this tree,
planted in a hot-house in April last, has made a shoot of eight feet
and a half in length, and its leaf is about three inches long.” 1
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