April 8.—The most beautiful sight during the past week, in garden, park, or little farm com-Pound, has undoubtedly been the Cherry trees in bloom, We Europeans have never taken up the cult of the cherry seriously (possibly because we lack the Oriental imagination) and most of us probably only remember the cherry by the colour cerise and such well-known drinks as Kirschwasser and Maraschino But our Japanese friends have thought dif-fervently for hundreds of years, and we must thank them today for the many varieties of cherry trees to be seen now in Shanghai. I am} sure there are more than one hundred different kinds to be seen in Japan where the people have at least learnt to love flowers, It may sound stupid. to an Occidental to think of flower-viewing as a pastime, but the fact remains that in Japan "Hanami," as they call it, is a very definite cult; and of all the Hana (flowers) to be mi-ed (viewed) the cherryblossom is the greatest, Of all such blossoms the common wild, or mountain, cherry is the best: it is known in Japan as Yama-sakura and may now be seen to perfection yin that quiet north-east corner of Jessfield Park, But even we Europeans have our traditions concerning the cherry-tree which are worth remembering: the Cuckoo, for example, is supposed by countrymen to eat several meals of cherries before he ceases to sing his little song...an obvious reference to the time of his departure from England: also we' have the old rhyme, "Cuckoo, Cuckoo, cherry-tree, good bird prithee tell to me, how many years I am to see." (The answer is, of course, the number of times the bird calls), And was it not George Washington who, neglecting all the rules of Hanami, cut down a cherry-tree with his little axe? I often wonder how true that story is or may be?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.