THE LITCHI AND ITS RELATIVES 315 



Regarding the origin and early history of the fruit Alphonse 

 DeCandolle says : " Chinese authors living at Pekin only knew 

 the litchi late in the third century of our era. Its introduction 

 into Bengal took place at the end of the eighteenth century. 

 Every one admits that the species is a native of the south of 

 China, and, Blume adds, of Cochin-China and the Philippine 

 Islands, but it does not seem that any botanist has found it in a 

 truly wild state. This is probably because the southern part 

 of China towards Siam has been little visited. In Cochin- 

 China and in Burma and at Chittagong the litchi is only culti- 

 vated." 



Macgowan 1 recounts that litchis were first sent as tribute to 

 the emperor Kao Tsu about 200 B.C. These were dried fruits, 

 however ; later fresh ones were forwarded by relays of men, and 

 one is happy to learn that though the cost in human life was 

 frightful they reached the emperor in good condition. The 

 Emperor Wu Ti (140-87 B.C.) made several attempts to 

 bring trees from Annam and plant them in his garden at Chang- 

 an, but he was not successful in raising them. 



According to Walter T. Swingle, the first published work 

 devoted exclusively to fruit-culture was written by a Chinese 

 scholar in 1056 A.D. on the varieties of the litchi. 



The principal provinces of China in which litchis are grown 

 are Fukien, Kwantung, and Szechwan. In Kwangtung Prov- 

 ince alone the annual crop is said to be twenty million to thirty 

 million pounds, worth $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. The region 

 around Canton is considered the most favorable part of China 

 for litchi culture. North of Foochow the tree is not successful. 



While litchis are by no means so extensively grown in India 

 as they are in southern China, there are several districts in 

 which they are produced commercially. The most important 

 are said to be in Bengal ; about Muzaffarpur (in Bihar) ; and 

 at Saharanpur (United Provinces of Agra and Oudh). E. 



1 Journal of the Agri-Horticultural Society of India, 1884, p. 195. 



