380 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



In the parts of China visited, the forests have long since been 

 cut away and only in the vicinity of the monasteries does one find 

 any considerable growth of trees. The poorer classes, especially in 

 the villages, depend upon grass for fuel. The peasants cut the 

 grass, weeds, and other waste vegetation, dry it in the sun, and 

 store it in bundles for winter use. The grass is used for cooking 

 rather than for heating and the stoves and cooking utensils are 

 adapted to this purpose. To keep warm in winter more. clothes are 

 worn. In the cities charcoal brought from a distance is much used 

 for cooking. 



The small farms usually have upon them a small pond in Avhich 

 fish are kept and along which are often grown water plants, such 

 as the lotus whose seeds and fleshy rhizomes are used for food. 

 Every few years the mud is scraped from the bottom of the pond 

 and used as a fertilizer. There is a compost heap upon which refuse- 

 is thrown and ultimately utilized for the same purpose. Rushes 

 are grown for making ropes, the entire cured stems being used 

 and twisted into strands and these into a rope. The single stems 

 take the place of strings for tying packages. 



The visitor to China observes scattered over the landscape numer- 

 ous mounds and is surprised to learn that these are graves. As 

 these graves arc not to be disturbed by plowing no inconsiderable 

 quantity of arable land is subtracted from that which might be 

 cultivated. 



Bamboo sprouts as a vegetable have already been mentioned. 

 Another grass {Zizania latifolia) furnishes a vegetable of fine 

 flavor. This is a perennial and the thickened base of the stem is 

 sold in the markets under the name kau sun. The species is a close 

 relative of our wild rice or Indian rice {Zizania palustris), which 

 differs in being annual and has no thickened base. 



A grass collected in the valley lands around Canton and between 

 Sheklung and Lohfau Mountain is of interest inasmuch as it ap- 

 pears to be the wild prototype of the cultivated rice. The plants 

 were collected along the margins of ponds, ditches, and streams. 

 They differ from the cultivated rice in being decumbent and rooting 

 at the base and in the narrower panicles of awned reddish spikelets. 



Concerning agriculture in general one is impressed with the in- 

 dustry of the people, the intensiveness of the cultivation, and the 

 high state of efficiency within the limits of the empirical methods. 

 On the other hand one sees the great opportunity for the application 

 of modern scientific methods by which the quality and the quantity 

 of the products should be greatly increased. 



