24 LETTERS ON AGRICULTURE. 



in the food economy of the Chinese, and we have much to learn from 

 them regarding methods of handling our swamp lands. 



"As is well known, the Chinese are good gardeners, and although 

 one is disappointed to rind how crudely they graft and propagate their 

 plants, he must admire their appreciation of the value of manure, how- 

 ever disgusting the manner of its collecting may be. The secret of 

 their success seems to be in the attention they give to each individual 

 plant. The}' live with and care for it as a stable boy does his pet 

 racing thoroughbred. 



Two horticultural practices struck me as especially interesting. 

 The Man Tan peonies, which are the Chinaman's pride, and for which 

 he is willing to pay as high as a gold dollar apiece for each blossom, 

 are grown in one of the towns near Tientsin until some time in Decern- 

 ber. when they are imported by the thousand into Canton, a week or 

 more journey by steamer. Here they are repotted and brought into 

 bloom in time for the Chinese New Year. 



A variety of iasmine is started in a similar way in Canton, grown 

 until flower buds begin to form and then is sent in great quantities to 

 Tientsin, where it is planted in pots, brought into flower, and the fra- 

 grant blossoms are used to mix with the tea leaves during the drying 

 process, in order to give them the desirable aroma. Should the matter 

 of their use promise to improve the market value of the tea production 

 of our country we will make it a point for investigation next autumn, 

 securing, if desirable, a quantity of the plants for propagation. The 

 Chinese and Japanese papers, by the way, have all printed telegrams 

 regarding the success of the efforts of the Department of Agriculture 

 in the home production of tea, and producers and shippers in Japan 

 and China are much interested in the financial outcome of the experi- 

 ments, though as yet they seem to be quite skeptical, believing the 

 cost of picking will be too great. 



There are two new elements which have recently combined to dis- 

 turb the set conditions in this part of China — the American occupation 

 of Manila and the war about Pekin. The former has led to a remark- 

 able increase in prices of labor, hotel accommodations, and food 

 products. Coolie wages have greatly increased in Hongkong since 

 the Spanish-American war, and there is much complaint about the 

 scarcity of Chinese labor in the dockyards and other new important 

 enterprises that are being started. 



Hotel prices are 50 per cent higher than they were before the war, 

 and residents claim that the general cost of living has doubled in the 

 last live years. 



The effect of the Boxer troubles will be far reaching, for the 

 Chinese Government, in order to pay the war indemnity, has levied a 

 tax of the equivalent of 5 American cents a year on each rafter of 

 every house in the country. Already the Viceroy in Canton is having 

 great difficulty in collecting the taxes, and white people living there 



