ough study of the method of collecting and applying the lac. 

 He describes the tree, Rhus vernicifera, from which the lac is 

 obtained, as follows: 



' 'Lacquer trees grow up straight and have fairly symmetrical 

 crowns. The young trees have fine, large, pinnate leaves, which 

 in good soil often grow to be more than a meter long, and far 

 exceed all other species of Rhus in size and beauty. The leaves 

 are unequally pinnate and have long stems. Before falling off 

 in October they become yellow or reddish brown. There are 

 from nine to fifteen leaflets, large, oval, pointed and unindented, 

 which have fine short hairs on the under side. 



"In June appear loose, greenish yellow branches of blossoms, 

 from numerous axils near the end of the thick twigs. The fruit 

 is ripe in the second half of October, is yellowish green and re- 

 mains hanging all winter, though usually gathered in November. 



"The two sexes are separate. Therefore when the chief ob- 

 ject of its cultivation is the manufacture of wax from the seed, 

 the male trees should be avoided, reproduction being obtained by 

 root sprouts from female specimens. The trees begin to bear 

 fruit when eight years old and increase in productiveness until 

 thirty or forty years old." 



Shirasawa gives the following: 3 Rhus vernicifera, D. C., 

 Syn. Jap. Urushi-no-ki, Fam. Anacardiaceae. 



"Cultivated in the countries of the temperate zone, i. e. Shin- 

 ono, Kai, etc., and the provinces to the northeast of Honshiu. 

 It does not grow in warm regions, and thrives best in moist soil. 

 The tree attains its growth quickly and reaches a hight of 10 

 meters, and the trunk a diameter of four decimeters. 



"The buds are of a pyramidal form, short with curved points 

 and covered with hairs of a brown, ash-gray color and glistening ; 

 cicatrix of the leaves large, heart shaped ; pith large. 



"Flowers, end of May ; fruit, end of October. 



"The wood is soft and brittle, with a remarkable difference 

 in the color between the sap wood, which is white and the heart 



3 Iconographie des Essences forestieres du Japan, par, M. Homi 

 Shirasawa, 1899, P- 94- 



