ISO AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



only burnt in lamps, an application for which it is very poorly 

 fitted, on account of its sooty flame. 



The wood of the camphor-tree is much employed in Eastern 

 Asia for the manufacture of cabinets, chests of drawers, small 

 chests, etc. This is especially the case at Otami, and in the 

 Hakone Mountains, a day's journey to the west of Yokohama. It 

 has a fine grain, a clear, yellow-brown colour, a silky sheen, and a 

 beautiful appearance, so that it is well adapted to veneering. Not 

 being subject to the attacks of insects, it might be recommended 

 on this account as a material for cupboards and chests of drawers, 

 especially in countries where termites and small red ants are a real 

 plague, as in the West Indies and West Africa. 



if) Oil-plants and their products, 



Japan possesses a considerable number of plants, some wild, 

 others cultivated, from the seeds of which fatty oils (Abura) or 

 tallowy and waxy fats (R6) are manufactured. Only a few of 

 them are of much industrial importance — particularly the oils of 

 rape, sesame, the Perille, the Camellia, and the vegetable tallow or 

 Japanese wax of several kinds of sumach. This last is also an 

 export of consequence, holding sixth place in the lists given in 

 the English consular reports. 



The foUovving serve as food-oils : Goma-no-abura, sesame-oil 

 (from Sesamiim oriejitale)^ Kaya-no-abura, Kaya-oil (from Torreya 

 nncifera\ Buna-no-abura, be.ech-oil (from Fagtis Sieboldi), Rak- 

 kasho-no-abura, groundnut-oil (from Arachis hypogcea), Karashi- 

 abura, mustard-oil (from Sinapis cerniia and 6". integrifolia), Tane- 

 abura, rape-oil (from Brassica chinensis^, and some others. For 

 burning in lamps (Andon) Tane-abura, rape-oil, Dokuye-no-abura 

 (from ElcBococca cordata)^ Hyobu-no-abura (from CepJialotaxus 

 drupeacea\ sometimes also Gioto, or fish-oil (from different mem- 

 bers of the herring family) are chiefly used. Gas and especially 

 petroleum, have, however, considerably diminished the use of the 

 fats as agents- for lighting in Japan. The principal articles used 

 for hair-oil are Tsubaki-no-abura, camellia-oil (from Camellia 

 japonica, C. Sasanqua^ and C. tJieifera, the last called also Cha-no- 

 abura, tea-oil). And finally, for technical purposes, the kinds most 

 used are Ye- (pronounced A) no-abura, the oil of Perilla ocymoides^ 

 T6-goma, hempseed-oil (from Cannabis sativa), Zokudzui-shi, 

 spurgeworts-oil (from Euphorbia Lathyris), and Shira-shibori, 

 cold-pressed rape-oil, as well as the R6 from the sumachs. 



In manufacturing these various vegetable-fats, the Japanese, as 

 well as the Chinese, employ wooden wedge-presses of various con- 

 structions. A reproduction of one of these is given by Stanislas 

 Julien, in his well-known book, " Industrie de I'Empire Chinois," 

 p. 119. Another kind is that which I frequently saw used in 



