TllK I.Y.CHKK AND U'NCJAN 



pok chih" (ntttfc). 1 his is a process of layering which the mod- 

 ern horticulturist can rightly term "Chinese air-layering." It is 

 practically the same as " Gootee" layering of India. All Cantonese 

 gardeners are excellent manipulators of this method and a great major- 

 ity of the trees and shrubs, including citrus fruits, of South China are 

 thus propagated. After the trees have been rooted by this process 

 they are set out in nursery beds or planted into pots. When they are 

 raised for permanent planting a ball of earth at least a foot in diame- 

 ter, held in place by means of rice straw, remains attached to the 

 roots. The nursery business as seen for example at the village of 

 Fang Yung (li,r$), near Canton, has become quite an industry and 

 during the planting season one often sees boat loads of lychee nursery 

 stock. 



Lychee are rarely grown from seed; lungan more often. The 

 Chinese consider that in a region where temperature and humidity so 

 greatly facilitate layering there is little reason to depend upon seed- 

 lings. Then, too, seeds of the lychee are very short lived and cannot 

 be kept viable for more than four or five days, except under very moist 

 conditions. In the propagation of the trees in other lands, however, 

 the seedling method may be advantageous, especially until a large 

 number of trees are at hand. J. E Higgins L in his bulletin cites some 

 interesting experiments- with regard to the use of seeds in propagation. 



In the greenhouses at Washington the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has clearly demonstrated that lychee can be 

 successfully grown from cuttings. Inarching is widely practiced by 

 the Chinese and in the propagation of some of the best varieties of 

 the lychee and lungan they often resort to this method. The 

 small seeded "No Mi Chin" (***) lychee is often thus pro- 

 pagated. One often sees high headed tops of this variety growing 

 on trunks of the hardy, mountain or "shan chih" (Uiifc) type. 

 Chinese recognize the art of grafting but I have not seen them 

 practice budding. But cleft grafting, known as "tsieh chih" ($$) 

 is quite widely practiced on both the lychee and lungan. In the 

 famous fruit region of "Lo Kang Tung " ^fUSTO), twenty to thirty 

 miles northeast of Canton, one sees some very successful specimens 

 of cultivated lychee which have been cleft grafted upon the hill type. 

 Jn fact this practice is doubtless the foundation upon which the large 

 commercial lychee industry of Lokang ($11$) has been founded. 



1 HIGGINS, J. E , The. LitcJii in Ha-vaii, Hawaii Agricultural Experiment 



Station, Bulletin No. 44, pnges 7 and S. 



