﻿PLANTS 
  OF 
  CHINA 
  — 
  WALKER 
  353 
  

  

  branches 
  for 
  brick- 
  and 
  lime-kiln 
  fuel, 
  may 
  be 
  considered 
  in 
  this 
  same 
  

   light, 
  though 
  the 
  scattered 
  way 
  the 
  trees 
  are 
  grown 
  hardly 
  leads 
  to 
  

   real 
  forests. 
  

  

  Scientific 
  reforestation 
  has 
  made 
  a 
  beginning 
  in 
  China. 
  Its 
  first 
  

   attempts 
  were 
  in 
  Hong 
  Kong 
  under 
  British 
  supervision 
  and 
  in 
  Shan- 
  

   tung 
  when 
  it 
  was 
  under 
  German 
  control. 
  In 
  the 
  former 
  colony 
  there 
  

   bas 
  long 
  been 
  a 
  forestry 
  department, 
  and 
  much 
  replanting 
  of 
  the 
  hill- 
  

   sides 
  with 
  native 
  pine 
  has 
  occurred. 
  In 
  Tsingtao 
  foreign 
  trees, 
  includ- 
  

   ing 
  American 
  black 
  locust, 
  Scotch 
  pine, 
  and 
  many 
  others, 
  have 
  been 
  

   successfully 
  used. 
  Nanking 
  University 
  and 
  Lingnan 
  University 
  have 
  

   contributed 
  much 
  to 
  the 
  program, 
  and 
  Sunyatsen 
  University 
  has 
  had 
  

   an 
  active 
  forestry 
  department 
  and 
  careful 
  studies 
  have 
  been 
  made 
  

   leading 
  to 
  a 
  thorough 
  program 
  of 
  reforestation. 
  Experimental 
  plots 
  

   have 
  been 
  tried 
  with 
  various 
  trees, 
  some 
  of 
  which 
  are 
  encouraging, 
  

   others 
  not 
  so 
  promising. 
  Cunninghamia 
  is 
  the 
  most 
  promising 
  for 
  

   the 
  higher 
  parts 
  in 
  northern 
  Kwangtung, 
  but 
  it 
  proves 
  to 
  be 
  unsuited 
  

   to 
  the 
  lower 
  lands. 
  Here 
  must 
  eventually 
  be 
  established 
  evergreen 
  

   tropical 
  forests 
  on 
  the 
  now 
  grass-covered 
  hillsides. 
  This 
  transforma- 
  

   tion 
  cannot 
  be 
  made 
  in 
  one 
  step. 
  Instead 
  intermediate 
  growth 
  must 
  

   be 
  established 
  using 
  carefully 
  tested 
  trees, 
  capable 
  of 
  growing 
  well 
  

   on 
  these 
  open 
  hillsides, 
  such 
  as 
  possibly 
  Eucalyptus 
  of 
  selected 
  species, 
  

   Dalbergia 
  sisoo, 
  a 
  leguminous 
  tree 
  from 
  a 
  similar 
  formation 
  and 
  

   climate 
  in 
  Assam, 
  the 
  native 
  Pinus 
  massoniana, 
  the 
  chinaberry 
  tree 
  

   (Melia 
  azedarach), 
  wood 
  oil 
  (Aleurites 
  spp.), 
  Leucaena 
  glauca, 
  and 
  

   others. 
  An 
  enlightened 
  insight 
  has 
  come 
  to 
  the 
  leading 
  scientific 
  men 
  

   of 
  China, 
  but 
  as 
  yet 
  it 
  has 
  not 
  come 
  to 
  the 
  masses. 
  

  

  THE 
  USES 
  OF 
  CHINESE 
  PLANTS 
  

  

  Almost 
  all 
  the 
  Chinese 
  prescientific 
  interest 
  in 
  plants 
  from 
  the 
  mythi- 
  

   cal 
  scholar 
  Shen 
  Nung 
  of 
  2000 
  B. 
  C. 
  to 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  the 
  scientific 
  

   period 
  in 
  China 
  in 
  the 
  present 
  century 
  related 
  to 
  their 
  usefulness 
  to 
  

   man. 
  The 
  same 
  was 
  true 
  in 
  western 
  countries, 
  for 
  the 
  earliest 
  Euro- 
  

   pean 
  botanical 
  books, 
  like 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  Chinese, 
  were 
  herbals 
  or 
  books 
  

   on 
  the 
  medicinal 
  and 
  food-yielding 
  properties 
  of 
  plants. 
  Even 
  today 
  

   most 
  people 
  are 
  economic-minded. 
  Ask 
  any 
  person 
  not 
  trained 
  in 
  

   science 
  about 
  a 
  plant 
  and 
  his 
  reply 
  will 
  be 
  either 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  a 
  weed 
  or 
  a 
  

   useless 
  plant, 
  or 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  "of 
  some 
  good" 
  — 
  that 
  is, 
  useful. 
  So 
  we 
  find 
  

   a 
  vast 
  storehouse 
  of 
  information 
  on 
  useful 
  plants 
  in 
  Chinese 
  literature, 
  

   but 
  little 
  if 
  anything 
  concerning 
  noneconomic 
  plants. 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  great 
  use 
  of 
  plants 
  to 
  man 
  is 
  of 
  course 
  for 
  food, 
  and 
  in 
  

   this 
  field 
  the 
  Chinese 
  excel. 
  Whether 
  it 
  be 
  their 
  greater 
  control 
  of 
  

   prejudices 
  against 
  certain 
  food 
  plants 
  as 
  lowly, 
  unpalatable, 
  or 
  harm- 
  

   ful, 
  or 
  whether 
  the 
  constant 
  recurrence 
  of 
  disasters 
  which 
  have 
  taken 
  

   away 
  their 
  normal 
  foods 
  and 
  thrust 
  them 
  back 
  against 
  the 
  evil 
  choice 
  of 
  

  

  