June 3, 1884,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



is sometimes called " coffiu uut-oil tree, because of its ancieut 

 uses, aud sometimes the yrit oil-nut: it is straight, with a 

 pale green bark, having bracts which resemble the corolla of 

 a llower; its wood is fii-m. It dowers late in May, they 

 are in racemes, small and yellowish, carpeting the ground; 

 truly it is a beautiful tree." It produces fruit about the 

 size of peas in July and August, adherent to the margin 

 of the bracts. Its leaves are the last to appear, and the 

 first to become sear and yellow. Both species are similai-ly 

 treated : planted early m February, the seeds being mixed 

 with clay aud sawdust: to be freely watered every day. 

 When a foot high they are to be transplanted from the 

 nursery. The nuts are plucked when green; if they are 

 allowed to ripen they will be destitute of oil, and instead 

 of being acrid and poisonous, are edible. A rude press, 

 such as I have described as used in separating stearine 

 aud oleiue from the seeds of the tallow tree (stiliuwria 

 lexeiciia] sebifera) is employed to express the oil from these 

 nuts. Sometimes oil is cold-drawn, and sometimes heat is 

 employed. The refuse is used for manure. Tallow tree oil 

 is used as an article of adulteration, and also the still more 

 inferior oil obtained from beaus; with those adulterations 

 varnish takes along time to dry, and is of little use. Spm-ious 

 oil may be detected by scoopmg up a portion with a small 

 bamboo loop; it genuine, the oil will adhere m a film across 

 the loop like a parchment overa drumhead. It is in universal 

 use, for houses and boats; it is invaluable for caulking, and 

 is used also in making the best kind of mortar. A mixture 

 of glutinous rice congee, nut-oil, Ume and sand was used 

 on the Wusung forts ; hme is sometimes omitted. A great 

 amount of pounding is required to render the conipouud 

 perfect. Before using nut-oil for auy purpose it requires 

 protracted boiling. AVhen used for forming " golden varnish," 

 nothing is added; but when used as a pigment, a small 

 quantity of silver dross is added in boiling to facilitate dry- 

 Lug, and at the same time a little white lead to impart 

 lustre. 



When applied, the wood is first smeared with pig's blood 

 for dark red, and red clay for common red, and an infusion 

 of flowers for yellow. Oil-nut wood is employed for musical 

 instruments; the trunk for lyres, and the branches for lut> s 

 (their sonorousness differing). A species that is valued for 

 its timber (being imperious to attacks of insects) does 

 not produce nuts. 



Its relation to folk-lore may be worth noting in con- 

 clusion. Among their innumerable modes of weather-fore- 

 castiug, the Chinese say that a leaf of this tree falls on 

 the day and hour when the sun enters the loth sec, 9th 

 August; there is an odd leaflet terminating the pinnate 

 whenever an intercalary mouth occurs ; when the buds are 

 very red, a draught will follow; when they are unusually 

 white, it betokens a wet season. 



After this tedious account of the constituents of Ningpo 

 varnish the story of its preparation may be soon told. When 

 the aricle is good, it is composed of equal parts of varnish 

 proper and nut-oil; but both ingreclients are commonly 

 adulterated. 



It is now in order to offer a a few remarks on other 

 varnishes. An important varnish is obtained from a wild 

 persimmon JJiuspi/ros kaki sp. (the cultivated aud properly 

 cultivated fruit of China is very different from our styptic 

 persimmon). Its sarocarp is left to decompose in cubs in 

 its own juices, a little lime being added; in a fortnight, or 

 so, it becomes a putrid fetid mass, which, when deprived of 

 seeds, is an excellent varnish, ^\'ithout it umbrella makers 

 could not pursue their vocation; two coats of it are laid on 

 the paper (a tough material, the bark of the paper mulberry, 

 Brounsoiieiia I'api/rifni) aud then nut-oil is applied to 

 kittysols aud umbrellas. This is the varnish that is used to 

 lino willow baskets in which bean-cake oil is stored and 

 transported. 



A varnish resembling that yielded by the per.simmon is 

 obtained from what appears to be an alga ; its appearance 

 is compared to the Pacoiiia alhijlora. China does not appear 

 to produce a lac insect ; but an ant is found in Annam that 

 secretes a varnish. When a spot i.s recognised as containing 

 their nests, it is dug, aud a bit of bark is stuck into the hole, 

 when the ants emerge and secrete a varnish. I commend 

 this entomological subject to French naturalists in Tongking 



for investigati on.^ 



~* Ohii-feng iu Ch'ing-hua ^obsolete Sung name) is named 

 as the habitat of the varuisli ant. 



Dr. Bretschneider in his paper "Eai-ly European Research- 

 es into the Flora of China," states that Vol. xxii., Philosoph'- 

 ical Transactions, contains au account of the way of making 

 Chinese varnishes sent by the Jesuits in China to the Grand 

 Duke of Tuscany. 



II. — I'anff-niei, sometimes called tree strawberry, or arbutus 

 iui/rie sapidu moi-ella ruhrUy for which the region about 

 Ningpo is celebrated, " producing the best fruit of the kind 

 in the Empire," Hsiao-hsing the coterminous department 

 being included in the famous yang-mei coimtry. It is only 

 the very best that foreigners care to eat ; as commonly found 

 it is too sour. It resembles mulberry. 



Citltiwatwii, — Macerate the seeds in night-soil from the 

 time of collecting, iu May, for a month; place them aside 

 until March following ; then plant. When a foot high, trans- 

 plant, or three or four years later, when other trees are to 

 be grafted on it, transplant on a hill with its surroimding 

 earth. In January dig a semi-circidar trench about it from 

 four to five feet distant, where the ground is higher than 

 the tree, and place night-soil and ashes therein. Mulberry 

 grafted on the yang-mei produces fruit without soui-ness. 

 When the tree suffers from insects drive liquorice pears 

 {Glycyriza) mto the affected part; it will act as an insect- 

 icide. Grafting fir on this tree is not named iu the books, 

 but is practised by the Niugpoese; hence the fruit has 

 often a tercbinthine flavor. 



This grafting of yaug-mei on fir, a matter so much at vari- 

 ance with horticultural canons on the art of grafting, invites 

 digression. It has been authoritatively stated that grafting 

 was introduced mto China by Jesuit Missionaries. That is a 

 mistake. If the art was communicated by missionaries at 

 all, it was by Nestorians, for Su Tungpo, the great poet and 

 statesman, and writer on agriciUture as well, (1036 — 1101 

 A. D.) gives directions respecting the process. Perhaps it 

 foUowed the introduction of the vine into China in the second 

 centuary B.C., or its origin may be traced to colony or pre- 

 Christian Jews who erected a magnificent temple in 

 Oh'en-tu. 



It is taught that growth by graftmg can take place only 

 among plants of the same family, or order. Chinese horticult- 

 urists teach nearly, the same thing. The stock and shoot 

 must be of the same nature, or must have a constitutional 

 affinity, (an idea suggestive of a special classification). The 

 grape furnishes another illustration. It is planted near a 

 Zizyphus, which is perforated to receive a branch of the 

 vine; when by its growth the branch fills the hole, the 

 vessels of both iuosadating, it is severed from its parent, 

 and produces and improved grape. Persimmon is grafted 

 on peach — a fact noted by D'Entrecalles (1741) aud quoted 

 by Bretschneider, who saj's he was unable to confirm it. 

 Books, and conmion report also, say that the black date 

 zizyphus (Di/osptiros Lotus), is grafted on persimmon and 

 persimmon on that plant. At Hangehow a peach is brought 

 to market called "WTiite Wilham peach," which is said to 

 be obtained by grafting one on the other. Chestnut is 

 grafted on a species of oak. Weuchow pomelo cultivators 

 are not content with grafting until the fifth generation is 

 reached — that is, on an engrafted branch of last year an- 

 other is engrafted this season, and so on annually until 

 the fifth year. Chinese floriculturists are famed in their 

 art, particularly in grafting. The Olaifraf/raiis which 

 flowers in Autumn, is m Spring made to bear Japonicas. 

 By grafting Buddha's finger (Citrus Vhirocarpvs) on a 

 peony (P. Moutan) its vitality and fragrancS are greatly 

 prolonged, although no union takes place. Much more 

 might be said on this subject. Certes, if the Chinese did 

 not originate grafting (I assume they did not) they 

 have cultivated it with signal success. 



The kernel of the berry is recommended in "malarial 

 leg," or beriberi (a malady that elsewhere I have described 

 as existing in China) and a decoction of the bark, or root is 

 used in ulcers, and various cutaneous diseases; the ashes of 

 the same are an antidote to arsenic : and is used also mixed 

 with oil as an application to a scalded surface. 



Annam produces a yang-mei, as large as a bowl from which 

 a famous liquor is prepared. 



III. — Lichi, the other article on which information is de- 

 su'cd is a delicious tropical fruit fof which there are between 

 thirty and forty kinds) but is found as high as 30° N. iu 

 Szechuan. The kind most lauded in the books is produced 

 at Huian in Fuhkien 25 = N. 

 It is found on level ground adjacent to hills, and thrive g 



