774 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1886. 



command of Her Majesty, to both Houses of Parlia- 

 ment, as the second Ohina Blue Book of 1885. 



Mr. Hosie's report does not by any means clear 

 up all the obscurities which have hitherto surround- 

 ed the mode of producing insect wax, but it is the 

 first reliable and at the same time well nigh complete 

 account, entering into most of the details of this 

 intricate subject. His report is, however, presentt'd 

 in a somewhat disjointed manner, which makes it 

 difficult, without careful study, to piece together, 

 into a connected outline, the dislocated pieces of in- 

 formation which he distributes under the heads of 

 (1) the insect tree, (2) the insect, (3) the wax tree, 

 (4) the wax. But the sum total of his report is not 

 only of interest fnr Chinese commerce in general, 

 but for Hongkong in particular, if, as we are in- 

 cHned to believe, it may be possible to introduce 

 in Hongkong the rearing of wax insects and the 

 cultivation of the insect tree and wax tree. It is 

 with a view to encourage enterprising spirits in the 

 Colony to make the experiment of transplanting from 

 Szechueu to Hongkong this valuable industry of the 

 production of insect wax that we attempt briefly to 

 put together, from Mr. Hosie's report and from other 

 sources of information at our command, a connected 

 statement of the principal facts connected wi h the 

 production of Chinese insect wax. 



It appears, then, that there are many districts, all 

 over the province of 8zechuen notably, however, the 

 Ohien-cb'ang valley, the Chien-wei district, and the 

 neighbourhood of Ch'ung-chMng, where a certain tree, 

 which is at present* supposed to be the L7gi/<itvu>n 

 lucidumy grows wild. Mr. Hosie omits to state the 

 exact position of these places, but we find from 

 Playfair's " Cities- and Towns of China," that all the 

 regions where this tree is found in abundance and 

 where the industry connected with it flourishes, are 

 situated between lat. 29 and '60 N., and long. 103 

 and 104 E. Now, in the above mentioned places a 

 considerable business is done, simply in detaching 

 from the boughs of this so-called insect tree numbers 

 of pea-shaped excrescences or galls and exporting 

 them to ditfereut places in Szechuen and other 

 provinces of China, especially Hunan and Kwcichow, 

 There is, so far as we can see, nothing to hinder 

 the export of these galls, in souud condition, even 

 to Hongkong. Each of the galls contains a small 

 colony of tiny brown insects, resembling minute lice, 

 each with .six legs and a pair of club antetuiae, and 

 (in many cases) also a small white cocoon containing 

 a beetle (known as the buffalo beetle) which has 

 also six legs and a long proboscis armed with a pair 

 of pincers. These galls are, about thw eml uf April 

 each year, detached from the boughs of the insect 

 trees, wrapped, in parcels of 20 or 30 galls each, in 

 leaves of the wood-oil tree, whose edges are fastened 

 together with rice straw, or done up in papt-r packets, 

 each weighing about 12 Chinese ounces, ami sold at 

 a price ranging from half a tael to one tael a packet. 

 The purchasers of these galls, whether in Szechuen 

 or in other provinces of China, being owners of wax 

 trees, now take the packets of galls, and, after 

 making a few rough holes in the leaves enveloping 

 the galls, suspend the packets close to the branches 

 of the so-called wax tree. Mr. Hosie gives no name 

 to this tree, leaving it to the Director of Kew 

 (iardens to identify ihe specimens forwarded to him. 

 Bat we may add that hitherto this wax tree lias 

 been considered to be a species of J'ra.iiuifs, and nann^d 

 Fraa-imts Chint'iifiis. • Mr. Hosie supposes that, wle-ii 

 the packets of galls have been suspeniled unilernfath 

 the boughs, the following process takes place: 'I'fu' 

 buffalo beetle above mentioned living within each gi''. 

 having previously done part of his duty in bori, 1,' 

 a hole through the rind of the gal', escapes through 

 the holes made, and being at first utiabU' to fly, re- 

 mains, with crowds of other bnlValo beetles, of both 

 sexes, for some time on the brandies of the Whx 

 tree, leaving behino eventually, when taking flight, 

 deposits of minute eggs, destined to cause some 

 mischief. Meanwhile, however, the wax insects ixlso 

 euL-ape through the holes made by the bnfl'alo beetle. 

 crocp rapidly up the branches of the wax tree, and, 



after remaining for 13 days on the leaves of the 

 older branches and having moulted there, descend 

 finally to the tender branches, fix themselves on the 

 under sides to the bark by theii- mouths, to cooi- 

 menee to produce, by some as yet unexplained process, 

 a liquid which gradually encrusts the branches with 

 a thick coating of wax. But during this period there 

 emerge also from the eggs, deposited on the branch- 

 es by the buffalo beetles, certain insects, called 

 wax-dogs, which prey upon the wax insects and are 

 to be shaken off' by the cultivators by beating the 

 trunk of the tree with clubs. After a period of some 

 three months, the crust of wax encasing the branches 

 is about a quarter of an inch thick. The branches 

 are then lopped off, the wax is removed by hand, 

 thrown into boiling water and thence it is skimmed 

 off and run into moulds as the white wax of com- 

 merce. The branches are then boiled also and the 

 remainder of the wax extracted, yielding an inferior 

 kind of insect wax. The insects, which, during the 

 boiling process, sink to the bottom, are pressed to 

 squeeze out the last vestiges of wax, and they are 

 then used as food for pigs. The owners of the wax 

 trees have but few expenses, and do on the whole 

 a profitable business. It is estimated that in good 

 years a packet of Chien-ch'ang galls costing about 

 half a tael, will produce from 3 to 4 catties of wax, 

 the present price of which is about 40 taels a picul. 

 But as in bad years not more than a catty of wax 

 can be expected to be produced by a packet of galls, 

 the trade has a cousider.ible element of risk in it. 

 unless the owners of wax trees raise also insect trees 

 and propagate the insects themselves. 



We think it highly desix-able that an attempt should 

 be made to acclimatize both insect trees and wax 

 trees at different levels of our bids, with a view to 

 ascertain to possibility of domesticating in Hongkong 

 the production of insect wax. As the Superintend- 

 ent of the Botanical and Afforestation Department 

 is now going home on a well-earned leave of absence, 

 it is hardlj possible that anything ct»n he done in 

 this direction until his return. AVhen this takes 

 place, we believe that if Mr. Ford were to luake an 

 excursion in Szechuen to investigate the liabits of the 

 wax tree and insect, and to procure specimens, it 

 would be attended with results as valuable from a 

 scientific point of view as his excursion up t!ie West 

 Kiver to make investigations respecting the cassia 

 lignea, and possibly more valuable as reganls the 

 material interests of the colony. — Honokomj IhiVy Ptiss. 



A Oheai' i'EniiirUGE. — Government .seems now to be 

 fully alivo to the importance of obtaining cheap febri- 

 fuge which would be easily placed within the reach of 

 even the poorest. The importance of this question can 

 hardly be overestimated for the deaths from fevor iu 

 the Madx'as Presidency in the last IS years amounted lu 

 3,884,482, the mortality from fever being about three 

 times as great as that from any other cause. A liquid 

 extract of the cinchona alkaloids, which can be pre- 

 pared very cheaply, has recently been tried in several 

 of the most feverish districts. It was prepareil by Mr. 

 Hooper, the Government Quinologist, and contained 

 24 grains of the alkaloids to the fluid ounce. Dr. Cornish 

 now reports that the experiments have been very suc- 

 cessful, and recommends that this extract should be pre- 

 pared in large quantities. He suggest.-; that the strength 

 should be increased to 40 grains to the ounce, and we 

 believe that Mr. Hooper has fouud it possible- to prepare 

 an extract of this strength. The cheap febrifuge pre- 

 pared ill Bengal is uu.satislactnry, inasmuch as it causes 

 nausea a:id disorders the digestive functions, but this 

 is not the casuwitli the extract prepared by Mr. Hooper, 

 even when it is taken in large doses. Prob.^bly this 

 is due to the circumstance that the alkaloids are in the 

 form of tannates, and that the Hstr\uj;ency of the tannin 

 counteracts the tendency I0 cau.se nan.sea. It i> now 

 proposed to manufacture this extract iu large .jiuintities. 

 ■\\'e wish that private enterprise would step in. and make 

 it unnecessary for Government to do tins itself. — /utlit'it 



