THE MORE IMPORTANT PLANT PRODUCTS 8i 



may have travelled from Persia to China by this same overland 

 route ? 



The poppy is (or was) a winter crop in Szechuan, being 

 garnered in April and May in ample time to prepare for the 

 rice-crop. No other crop even remotely approximating the 

 pecuniary value of opium can take its place. 



Several plants yielding fibres valued for textile and cordage 

 purposes are grown in China. In Szechuan the most important 

 of these is the true Hemp {Cannabis sativa), colloquially known 

 as " Hou-ma." This crop is abundantly cultivated around 

 Wenchiang Hsien and P'i Hsien. It is a spring crop, the seeds 

 being sown in February and the plants harvested the end of 

 May and beginning of June, just as they commence to flower. 

 The stems are allowed to grow thickly together and reach 8 feet 

 in height. The culms are reaped, stripped of their leaves, and 

 often the fibre is removed there and then. More commonly, 

 however, the stems are placed in pits filled with water and 

 allowed to ret for a few days ; they are then removed, sun-dried, 

 stacked in hollow cones, surrounded by mats, and bleached by 

 burning sulphur beneath the heaps. After these processes the 

 fibrous bark is stripped off by hand. The woody stems that 

 remain after the bark has been removed are burned, and the 

 ashes resulting, mixed with gunpowder, enter into the manu- 

 facture of fire-crackers. Hemp, or " Hou-ma," is the best of 

 the fibres produced in Western China for rope-making and 

 cordage purposes generally. It is also used locally for making 

 grain-sacks and coarse wearing apparel for the poorer classes. 

 Quantities are used in the city of Paoning Fu for these latter 

 purposes. It is in great demand on native river-craft and 

 is largely exported down river to other parts of China. It is 

 this hemp that is principally exported from Szechuan. True 

 Hemp [Cannabis] is an annual and is grown as a summer crop 

 in the mountains for the sake of its oil-containing seeds. 

 Hemp oil is expressed and used as an illuminant and is said not 

 to congeal in the coldest weather. In Hupeh it is known as 

 " T'ang-ma." 



Another annual plant cultivated for its fibre is AbuHlon 

 AvicenncB, the T'ung or T'uen-ma of Szechuan and Hupeh. This 

 plant is widely cultivated as a summer crop in Western China 

 VOL. 11. — 6 



