THE RICE-PAPER PLANT. 83 
“An attempt was made many years ago to introduce the plant into 
Fuh-chow, live specimens being brought over from Formosa, and 
planted and tended in the same manner as in their native country. 
They appeared to thrive for a time, but soon drooped and withered, 
and the experiment failed. 
“The foregoing account, commencing with the words, ‘The Tung- 
tsaou or Rice-paper plant,’ (p. 80) is chiefly drawn up from a notice 
communicated by Mr. Sinclair; and its meagreness and defectiveness 
are not to be wondered at when, as Mr. Sinclair observes, it is so difficult 
to obtain accurate information from a people who in most cases know 
only the substances produced and their peculiar uses, without possess- 
ing the slightest knowledge of, or taking any interest in, the sources of 
production. The account of the cultivation of the plant, which in the 
original notice is much more diffuse than as given above, must be 
received with special caution*; and until we obtain a free communi- 
cation with Formosa, we cannot perhaps expect to acquire much cer- 
tain knowledge on this head. 
“The idle stories which have been occasionally circulated regarding 
the danger attending the search after the plant in the Formosan forests, 
and the mode of barter between the natives of that island and the 
Chinese, are fully disproved by the cheapness and abundance of the 
supply, which we can only suppose to be kept up by regular and 
extensive cultivation. 
“It is not a little strange that to the same family to which the 
Tung-tsaou belongs, viz. the Araliacee, or Ivy worts, another interesting 
and to this country most valuable plant is referable,——the Ginseng, 
which, although its root is so well known in commerce, and the plant 
itself has received a name (Panax Ginseng, Meyer), is also quite un- 
known to botanists. The plant which produces the Ginseng of porte 
(Panaz quinquefolium) is distinct from the Chinese or Tartar species.” 
Honexona, October 2, 1852. 
One more little circumstance connected with the Rice-Paper is this 
moment (while I am writing) communicated to me by Dr. Bowring, 
eed 
* The statement of the plant not Cin fie seed, but throwing up s 
like the Bamboo from its roots, we s very improbable in the ce of pla al 
of this kind. The process of sowing the seed (as we mci dooledpe ofthe fet a a 
is represented by another Chinaman, —one with as much knowledge of t as 
the other.—Ep. 
