io8 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



at the right time, a sutficient supply of running water. So 

 complete is the whole arrangement that scarcity, much less 

 famine, is practically unknown on the Chengtu Plain. 



There are no extremes of climate in this region. In summer 

 the temperature seldom reaches ioo° F., in the shade ; in winter 

 it seldom falls below 35° F. It is humid at all times and 

 essentially cloudy, more especially in winter, when the sun is 

 rarely seen, owing to banks of mists. The land is always under 

 cultivation, yielding two main crops that ripen in April or 

 May, and August or September respectively. Catch crops are 

 obtained between these two main harvests. Rice is the chief 

 summer crop, but certain districts produce millet, sugar^ pulse. 

 Indigo {Strohilanthes flaccidifolius) , and tobacco in quantity. 

 Pi Hsien being noted in particular for the latter crop. Wheat 

 and Chinese rape are the chief winter crops with Broadbeans 

 {Vicia Faha), peas, barley, and Hemp {Cannabis sativa), 

 common in certain districts. Wen-chiang Hsien is famous for 

 its hemp, which is grown in quantity as a winter crop and 

 exported largely to other parts of Szechuan and down river. 

 This product, known colloquially as " Huo-ma," has been 

 wrongly identified by many travellers. As summer crops. 

 Ramie or " Hsien-ma " {Bcehmeria nivea) and Abutilon hemp 

 or " Tuen-ma " [Ahutilon Avicennce) are both cultivated more 

 or less in quantity. The only Jute or " Huang-ma " {Cor chorus 

 capsularis) I ever saw was in July 1910, growing near Yao- 

 chia-tu. In the northern parts of the plain, Mienchu and 

 Teyang Hsiens, a little cotton is raised, but commercially the 

 crop is unimportant. Opium was never cultivated in quantity 

 on the plain. 



All the Chinese vegetables and culinary oil-producing plants 

 are cultivated in quantity in the Chengtu Plain, and their 

 general excellence is not excelled elsewhere. To enumerate 

 them it would be necessary to give a complete list of such plants 

 cultivated in all but the coldest parts of China. This enumera- 

 tion is reserved for a subsequent chapter. 



A striking feature of the plain is the enormous number of 

 large houses and farmsteads dotted here, there, and everywhere, 

 and shaded by groves of Bamboo, Nanmu, and Cypress. The 

 frequency of these houses, with their enveloping groves, gives a 



