FOREIGN AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



might be employed in a similar manner, in the 

 same way as the Papyrus was employed in an- 

 cient times. Stems of the Indian ^schyno- 

 mene are to be seen in the Museum of the Edin- 

 burgh Botanic Garden. Chinese Rice-paper, 

 however, comes from a totally different plant. 

 M. Berthold Seeman, who accompanied Her 

 Majesty's ship Herald, gives, in the Kew Mis- 

 cellany, the following account of his attempt to 

 find the plant in China. He says : — 



"It was my particular desire to obtain the 

 plant of which the Rice-paper is made. On my 

 arrival all I could learn was, that the paper was 

 manufactured from vegetable pith; respecting 

 the name of the plant, its vegetation, and native 

 province, the most contradictory statements 

 prevailed. My first aim was to discover the 

 vernacular name of the plant; after I had suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining this, through the aid of an 

 intelligent missionary, Mr. Vogel, I experienced 

 no further difficulty in collecting information, 

 and in finding a Chinaman willing to procure 

 specimens. The plant grows abundantly in the 

 province of Yunnan, and in the work of Li-shi- 

 chin there is a figure and description of it. Mr. 

 Williams, the well-known author of " The Mid- 

 dle Kingdom," has kindlj' rendered that ac- 

 count into English for me, and the following is 

 a transcript of his version: — 'The Tung-toh- 

 rauh, or as it is sometimes called, Tung-tsau 

 (i.e. hollow plant,) grows on the sides of hills. 

 Its leaves resemble the Castor-oil plant (Rici- 

 nn.t communis. Linn. ;) the stem is hollow, and 

 has in its heart a white pith, which is prized for 

 its lightness and whiteness, and collected in order 

 to make ornaments for women.' Knoh-poh 

 says: ' It grows in Kiang-nan, is about 12 or 14 

 feet high, and has leaves which are large and 

 fleshy like those of the Nelumhium. In the 

 stem is a very white pith. Gardeners now sow 

 the seed, and also transplant the plant. If the 

 stem is cooked with honej', and mi.xed with 

 preserved fruit, the taste is sweet and pleasant." 

 Li-shi-chin .says: ' The stalks of those plants 

 which grow in the hills are large, several inches 

 in circumference. The taste and virtues of this 

 jdant are sweet, cooling, and innocuous. It 

 aids the secretions, it stops diarrhoea and excess 

 of urine, and helps the expectorations. A 

 tincture of the burnt stalks reduced to power 

 is good for lock jaw.' " 



M. Seemann, from the description given, and 

 the wood cut annexed to it. thought that it was 

 a Malvaceous plant. But it now appears that 

 the plant belongs to Araliaceae, and it has been 

 called by Sir William Hooker, Aralia paprcifera. 

 A figure is given in the Kew Miscellany, for 

 Jan. 1852. The leaves of the plant are large 

 and radiating, lobed at the margin, and some- 

 what resembling the leaf of a large Sycamore, 

 the pulp is in large quantities, and seems to be 

 hollow and to descend in the center. — /. of H. 



Sago Manufactory at Singapore. — The 

 unprepared sago is imported from the neighbor- 

 ing island of Borromeo, and consists of the pith 



of a short, thick kind of palm. The tree is cut 

 down when it is seven years old, split up from 

 top to bottom, and the pith, of which there is 

 always a large quantity, extracted; it is then 

 freed from the fibres, pressed in large frames, 

 and dried at the fire or in the sun. At this 

 period it has still a yellowish tinge. The fol- 

 lowing is the manner in which it is grained : — 

 The meal or pith is steeped in water for several 

 days, until it is completely blanched; it is then 

 once more dried by the fire or in the sun, and 

 passed under a large wooden roller, and through 

 a hair sieve. When it has become white and 

 fine, it is placed in a kind of linen winnowing- 

 fan, which is kept damp in a peculiar manner. 

 The workman takes a mouthful of water, and 

 spurts it out like fine rain over the fan, in which 

 tlie meal is alternately shaken and moistened in 

 the manner just mentioned, until it assumes the 

 shape of small globules, which are constantly 

 stirred round in large flat pans, until they are 

 dried, when they are passed through a second 

 sieve, not quite so fine as the first, and the larger 

 globules separated from the rest. — .A Woman's 

 Journey Round the World. 



Scientific Gleanings. — The Hieraceum 

 plumbeum of Fries has been ascertained to be 

 a native of Britain, by Mr. J. Backhouse, jr., 

 of York. It grows on Falcon Clints, in Tees- 

 dale. Mr. Backhouse, who has had an oppor- 

 tunity, during the past summer, of examining 

 specimens of the Norwegian Hieracia, describes 

 it as nearly allied to H. ccEsium, but difiering 

 strongly in having more truncate involucres, 

 with broad based acuminate apiculate scales, of 

 a dark color, margined with green; also, in 

 the involucres and peduncles being almost or 

 entirely destitute of stellate pubescens. H. 

 ccEsium from the same place, and from Cronk- 

 ley Scar, has narrow, acute, involucral scales, 

 and usually a large amount of stellate down on 

 the peduncles and involucres. H. plumbeum 

 flowers very early (about July,) while H. cce- 

 slum is in perfection, or nearly so, in Sex)tem- 

 ber. In cultivation the plants become still more 

 dissimilar. — Report of Edinburgh Botanical 

 Society. 



Professor Simpson recently communicated to 

 the Botanical Society of Edinburgh the results 

 of some experiments relative to the growth of 

 Alpine ])lants, after having been kept artificial- 

 ly covered with snow in an ice-house for many 

 months. Seed and plants, when kept in this 

 way during winter, and then brought into the 

 warm air of summer, w-ere found to germinate 

 and grow with great rapidity. In Arctic regions 

 the rapid growth of the plants during the short 

 summer is well known ; and the importance of 

 similar experiments being made on the different 

 kinds of grain was suggested. The rapidity of 

 the harvest in Canada and other countries, 

 where the cold lasts for many months, seems to 

 indicate that if grain was kept in an ice 

 during winter, and sown in spring, there 

 be an acceleration of the harvest. The subject 



