80 BOTANICON SINICUM. 
the proper term for grafting (sometimes also written #¥), by $i 7K, 
which can only be translated by grafting. But in Chinese works 
on husbandry now extant Kuo To t‘o is the earliest author quoted 
with respect to grafting. 
The ancient Greek and Roman authors assert that the vine, 
the fig-tree, the walnut-tree, the olive-tree, the pomegranate and 
other heterogeneous trees can be grafted together (see Pliny’s 
Natur. hist.). Although in our days no credit is given to these 
statements, as all attempts of grafting have failed except among 
plants of the same genus, or at least of the same natural family, 
—it is a curious fact that in ancient Chinese writings on agri- 
culture we meet with statements similar to those made by Pliny. 
Kuo T‘o t‘o asserts, besides the successful grafting of Brousso- 
netia papyrifera on Morus alba (which is not improbable at all), 
that Plum-trees yielding sour fruits and Pear-trees can be grafted 
on the Mulberry-tree, and that by this way a sweet plum and a 
sweet delicate pear are obtained. He states further that Prunus 
domestica can be grafted on the Peach-tree and vice versa—or the 
Apricot-tree on the Peach-tree, which causes the apricots to in- 
creuse in size, A Peach-tree grafted on Diospyros Kaki is said 
to produce gold-coloured peaches. Finally we are told in that 
ancient book that the Pomegranate can be successfully grafted 
on Olea fragrans, and Prunus on Melia Azedarach. I find also 
there a statement to the effect that if a Vine be planted so close to 
a Jujube-tree that the roots of both plants come into contact, the 
grapes will assume the flavour of the jujube. It is remarkable 
that a sympathy was supposed to exist between the Vine and the 
Zizyphus Lotus by the gardeners of ancient Babylon, Compare 
Meyer’s Geschichte der Botanik, III, 74, Husbandry of the 
Nabathwans. See also the observations of the Jesuit missionaries 
in China on the same subject, i. e. on the grafting together of 
heterogeneous trees by Chinese gardeners (My “ Early Europ. Res. 
into the Flora of China,” p. 29, 125 (21, 21]). 
The pa H§ 3 3 Sz shi tsuan yao. Important Rules for the 
Four Seasons, in 5 books, is also a production of the T‘ang period 
and frequently quoted in Chinese works on husbandry. The 
