22 MR. THISELTON DYER ON THE 
instance which came to my knowledge of the decrease of the 
trade in the Cassia-production, although it is said that the Java 
Cassia trade, in consequence of the lower prices at which the 
Cassia can there be produced, is cutting out and crippling the 
China trade." 
From each of the districts of Taiwu, Lukpo, and Loting, Mr. 
Ford obtained and sent to Kew copious and excellent specimens. 
These have been examined by my colleague Professor Oliver, 
who informs me that they certainly all belong to the same species, 
and that this is undoubtedly Cinnamomum Cassia, Blume. Mr. 
Ford took great pains to ascertain if this was the exclusive source 
of Cassia lignea. He reports :— 
* This is the only tree from which Cassia-bark, ‘ buds,’ or leaves 
of commerce in China, so far as could be ascertained from per- 
sonal inspection and reports, are obtained. Al the trees seen 1n 
the districts of Taiwu, Loting, and Lukpo, and intermediate loca- 
lities where Cassia was grown in smaller quantities, were of this 
species, nor were there, apparently, distinct varieties of the 
species in cultivation. The cultivators and other natives were 
much interrogated as to whether they knew or had heard of any 
other tree which yielded the products under notice, and the 
invariable reply was that there was no other kind. There is 
therefore, I think, no doubt but writers who have named other 
kinds as Cassia-yielding trees of China have been mistaken or 
misinformed on the subject. One writer alludes to a tree in 
terms which partly correspond to the description of Machilus 
velutina, Champ., another tree belonging to Lauraces, and in- 
digenous to South China. It is quite possible that this tree may 
have been supposed by a casual observer to yield cassia-bark, 
because it is sometimes grown in plantations intermixed with 
those of Cinnamomum Cassia. The trees are reared, planted, and 
treated in precisely the same manner as the Cassia trees; but the 
bark is required for a very different use, viz. to supply a glu- 
tinous extract which is used to stick together powdered Cassia- 
bark and sandal-wood (Santalum album) to form the joss-sticks 
used for incense. Cinnamomum Burmanni, Bl., which it has been 
supposed may probably yield * in part the Cassia-bark of the 
Canton market, does not, I feel sure, supply Cassia-bark to 
any extent. I did not see it anywhere cultivated ; nor was it 
seen growing wild in any but very small quantities, and these 
wild trees bore no signs of having been cut as had the Cassia 
