20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



are made into large, round cakes which are used as fertilizer. The 

 yield of oil is about 40 percent of the weight of the nuts. The oil is 

 boiled about 2 hours to produce varnish. It is also used as an adulter- 

 ant in lacquer-varnish and is mixed with soot to make Chinese ink. 

 The oil is used locally in West China and is exported to East China 

 and to foreign countries. 



Two varieties of rape are grown in China, the ta-yu-ch'ai or big oil 

 vegetable, and the hsiao-yu-ch'ai or little oil vegetable, both members 

 of the cabbage family. They are planted over vast areas, especially 

 in Szechwan and eastern Sikang. They bloom in March and are 

 harvested in April. When the plants are in blossom, whole areas are 

 colored a beautiful yellow. The small buds and tender leaves may be 

 eaten, and the dry stalks are used for fuel. The oil is commonly used 

 for cooking, for fuel in lamps, and in the manufacture of soap. The 

 dry cakes, after the oil is pressed out, make very good fertilizer. 



Castor oil, extracted from the nut of a small tree which grows in 

 lower altitudes, is used for medicinal purposes. 



White wax is produced by a tiny insect which is raised in Chien- 

 ch'ang Valley in northern Yunnan. The eggs are transported to 

 Szechwan in April by carriers who travel by night. In the region of 

 Lo-shan and Mount Omei, the eggs are placed on small green twigs 

 of the ash or the privet tree, where they soon hatch out. The insects 

 deposit the wax on the twigs, and later the twigs are cut off and im- 

 mersed in boiling water, melting the wax. It is then molded into large, 

 round cakes for storage and shipping, and used as a coating for candles 

 and pills, to make paper glossy, to polish jade, soapstone, and furni- 

 ture, and to give luster to cloth (Couling, 1917, p. 594). Much white 

 wax is shipped from Szechwan to other parts of China. 



Several varieties of hemp are raised at an altitude of up to 7,000 

 feet. It is made into thread, then into string or ropes, sackcloth, and 

 clothing. The clothing generally worn by the Ch'iang people is made 

 of coarse, undyed hemp cloth, which is a dull w'hite in color. For- 

 merly the Ch'uan Miao of northern Yunnan wore this kind of cloth- 

 ing, and for this reason they were called the White Miao. 



Cotton is grown in the lowlands of central and south China, and 

 even in parts of Shensi. There are few cotton mills in West China, the 

 cotton generally being made into thread by women in their homes 

 and woven into cloth on hand looms. It is dyed indigo blue, made into 

 clothing, and worn by the Chinese and by some non-Chinese. Cotton 

 is not raised in sufficient quantities to meet local needs, hence much 

 manufactured cloth is imported into Szechwan. 



