ON CHINESE HUSBANDRY. 261 



rearing of the silkworm, and the cultivation of the Mulberry for 

 that purpose. The thirty-first section commences with " general 

 observations," and proceeds to the subject of feeding the silk- 

 worms. The thirty-second relates entirely to the planting and 

 cultivation of the Mulberry-tree. The two next sections are 

 copiously illustrated with woodcuts, in explanation of the manage- 

 ment of the silkworm by women, from the egg to the spinning of 

 the cocoon by the worm, and then onward to reeling off the silk, 

 and every other successive step to the final process of weaving. 



Sect. XXXV. — XXXVI. After silk come the two cognate 

 subjects of Cotton and Hemp, the first of which is treated in the 

 thirty-fifth, and the second in the thirty-sixth section. Numei'ous 

 woodcuts represent the various processes of reeling and weaving 

 these two substances. 



Sect. XXXVII. — XL. These four sections are devoted to the 

 subject of Choong Che — " sowing and planting." First come 

 general observations, which occupy the thirty-seventh section. A 

 great number of useful trees, among others the Varnish or 

 Lacker-tree, are discussed in the thirty-eighth chaj)ter ; while the 

 Bamboo and the Tea-plant occupy, par excellence, nearly the 

 whole of the thirty-ninth. The fortieth section is devoted to the 

 consideration of nineteen different varieties of useful trees and 

 plants. 



Sect. XLI. This section treats of domestic animals, either 

 edible themselves, or useful in providing or preserving food. 

 They are in the following order : — horses, mules, oxen, sheep and 

 goats, pigs, dogs, cats, geese, ducks, fowls, pond-fish, and lastly 

 bees. The Chinese, like Virgil, call the queen bee the king. 



Sect. XLII. The whole of tlie forty-second section is composed 

 of a large collection of useful receipts, principally for the 

 preparation of articles of food. 



Sect. XLIII. — XLV. The remaining portion of this work is 

 the most remarkable of all. I have endeavoured in my work on 

 China * to explain the causes which (grounded on the encourage- 

 ments to over-population) tend to make the country liable to 

 frequent visitations of dearth and famine. For these reasons, 

 there is no nation perhaps in which so much attention has been 

 directed to extraordinary provisions against famine. To this may 

 probably be attributed the unlimited range of the Chinese kitchen 

 and bill of fare, as well in the vegetable world as the animal. I 



* Vol. II. page 401—414. 



