BOTANICON SINICUM. 77 
bandry in the prefectures surrounding the capital (Ch‘ang an 
near the present Si an fu in Shensi). 
The work was in 18 sections (pien). Some quotations from it, 
found in other ancient works, are all that has come down to us of 
this ancient treatise, the title of which means “ the Book on the 
Art of Sowing and Planting.” Extracts from it are given in the 
Ts‘i min yao shu (see the next), but they only refer to the follow- 
ing cultivated plants : 
Common Rice, Soja bean. 
Wheat. Other leguminous plants. 
Barley, Lagenaria. 
Panicum miliaceum, Common Hem: 
~ Echinochloa crus galli. Two varieties, | - Caladium esculentum. 
still cultivated in North-China, Mulberry-tree, 
are mentioned, one of them cul- 
pee in water, the other in dry 
50 
THE #§ §& B fj TSI MIN YAO SHU. 
This title may be translated: Important Rules for the people 
to gain their living in peace. It is a work on husbandry, still 
extant, by &{ 3 {8 Kia Sz niu (thus the Pen ts‘ao, list of works 
26, gives the pronunciation of the last character, generally pro- 
nounced hie). We learn from the Sz’ k‘u ts‘tian shu, C. II. 2, 
that he was a subject of the After Wei (A. D. 886—534) and 
prefect of #§ Zi Kao p‘ing. (Several cities of this name existed 
during the Wei in different parts of the Empire.) He seems to 
have lived in the 5th century. The original work was in 92 pien 
(sections). A part of it was lost a long time ago, and much ad- 
ditional matter by later authors is found in the edition now 
current, which is in 10 books. It seems that the T‘u shu tsi 
ch‘eng reproduces in books V and XV (on planting and felling 
trees, and cultivating fruits), and under the heads of the respective 
plants the whole matter of the work, together with the additional 
notes; but the latter are always separated there from the original 
text. According to an author of the 12th century, quoted in the 
Wen hien t‘ung k‘ao, the edition then extant was already pro- 
vided with the interpolated notes; and according to as 3 Li Tao 
(also an author of the Sung) these notes had been added by EB 
Sun Kung (Sung dynasty). 
