3? ttnprovetnents in India. March 7, 



have ordered ten acres to be laid out in a plantation cf 

 them. 



" I have the afsuranees of the gentlemen supercargoes at 

 Canton, as well as of the honourable Court of Directors, 

 for a supply of the plants of the varnijh and tallow trees, 

 fyom the western provinces of China 5 and having printed 

 •all these communications for the public information., there 

 cannot exist a ioubt that the gentlemen will likewise pay- 

 attention to the can-la-chu and choui-la-chu, and many- 

 other valuable productions of that country, so that we 

 fhall soon be enabled to deternxine whether white lac is 

 the pe-la of the Chinese or not. 



" When frefti gathered it*smellsof bees wax, and melted 

 with lintseed oil, becomes exactly of the colour of yellow 

 wax, although with olive oil no change of colour is pro- 

 duced ; from hence, and from the bleaching of wax, it 

 ^vould appear, that the yellow colour of this compound 

 may be derived from the particular state in which the ve- 

 getable mucilage is placed ; for this mucilage is what con- 

 stitutes the difference between lintseed and olive oil, and 

 a similar mucilage is all that we know wax can be depri- 

 ved of by bleaching. 



" I am just exposing some that are frefli gathered on a 

 terrace, in the simfliine, where the thermometer rises to 

 145, to dry up the watery moisture, and have thereby 

 rendered them so soft, that they lose their form on being 

 handled, and adhere to each other like soft wax. 



" You will be able to judge, from what I have stated re- 

 garding the wodier tree, and the specimen adhering to it, 

 that *..he e\pence of cultivating the insects in this wav, 

 v.ill be very moderate, in comparison of any other mode 

 in which they may be obtained •, and 1 fliould imagine 

 that the ground rent, and two labourers an acre, will 

 prove sufficient expenceto produce an hundred pounds an- 

 audlv.. 



