CHINA. 665 



Records of thermometer and barometer at Icliangfor 1883. 



From a short distance above Kiu-Kiang to near Hankow sandstone 

 is met with, and is a very superior building stone, much used for foun- 

 dations and trimmings for the more pretentious buildings, and also for 

 banding the river banks. 



About Hankow, and for miles above, limestone abounds, and immense 

 quarries that have evidently been worked for 'centuries, with no signs of 

 exhaustion, approach almost to the banks of the river, where lime-kilns 

 are met with at frequent intervals, constantly employed in the process 

 of calcining the stone for buildings and kindred uses. An immense 

 traffic both up and down the river grows out of this industry, most 

 useful to the people. 



Clay also abounds, and bricks of extreme hardness, of flinty strength, 

 of a dark slate color, are made in vast quantities. Crucibles are also 

 made from clay in the near vicinity of Hankow, said to be of unsur- 

 passed excellence. 



Granite and gravel are found in a variety of locations, the former 

 more inland than geological formations already referred to. 



There are no grasses cultivated, and hay is not gathered as an indus- 

 trial product. A coarse, wild, swamp grass is found everywhere. 

 Wheat and oats are extensive field products, but I have never seen 

 rye under cultivation here ; and timothy and clover are unknown. Oc- 

 casionally one meets with a few blosoms of small, sweet, white clover, 

 and they are probably the result of scattered seeds from lawn planting 

 by foreigners with imported grasses. 



BREEDS OF CATTLE IN THE YANG-TSE VALLEY. 



There are only two breeds of cattle in the entire region, and I think 

 neither has any characteristics to recommend it for exportation and 

 adoption, even for experiment in the United States. I present the 

 characteristics of each separately, and other particulars will apply to 

 both alike. 



THE COMMON YANG-TSE CATTLE. 



The common cow is a small-sized, compact animal, weighing about 

 400 pounds on the average, and produces young in the third year. She 

 may be considered mature after that, and lives about twenty years. 

 The bull and ox of the species are 20 per cent, heavier than the cow, 

 and all are broken to labor, the purpose for which they are kept, in the 



