One has to step quickly in this street before Lung-fu-ssu, comprehending all in swift glances, buying as well as reading as he runs; for if one loiters the crowd closes in around him, packed ten and twenty rows deep, in a gaping, jabbering circle.  Several times I went into and, by main force only, got out of a florist's garden, where dwarf trees, ragged chrysanthemums grafted on artemisia stalks, and some cockscombs were shown.  Nothing in Peking was more disappointing and disillusioning than the vain autumnal search I made for chrysanthemums worthy to rank with those of Japan or those of the foreign settlement of Shanghai. 1

1     Scidmore, Eliza Ruhamah  "The Streets of Peking," in The Century, a popular quarterly, Vol. 58, Issue 6, Oct. 1899, pg. 872.  Mrs. Scidmore (1856-1928) originated the idea of cherry trees planted in Washington, D.C. after returning from her first visit to Japan in 1885.  See also her observations of dwarf potted trees in Japan.