January 28, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



47 



then ready for boiling. The whole process is simple, and 

 may be accomplished by the women and children of the 

 family, thereby permitting the more able-bodied to attend to 

 the other farm duties, thus reducing' the price of labor and 

 consequently the cost of the drug. The bleeding of the cap- 

 sule is continued until the How of juice is exhausted." At 

 other points Mr. Hosie found still wider fields of Poppy, 

 and describes whole valleys and hillsides as "one mass of 

 Poppies in full bloom — white, mauve and white tipped with 

 pink being the chief colors." 



The way in which, in the highly cultivated districts, every 

 acre of ground is utilized is well explained where Mr. Hosie 

 writes of the same valley where he iirst saw the Poppy : "The 

 remainder of the valley was occupied by Rice-fields, sub- 

 merged in preparation for the summer sowing. Sometimes 

 they are allowed to soak for months, their surfaces being fre- 

 quently covered with floating water-plants, which are after- 

 ward utilized as manure. They are likewise stocked with 

 fish. In the early spring reeds and rank grass are cut from 

 the hillsides and made up into small bundles, which are then 

 strung on bamboos, laid down in shallow water in the 

 Yang-tsze and weighted with stones. Here the fish spawn, 

 and the ova adhere to the grass and reeds, which are then 

 taken up and sold. The grass is afterward scattered in the 

 higher fields, between which and the lower water-communi- 

 cation is kept up by digging small outlets, which can easily be 

 filled up at a moment's notice. Here the ova are hatched 

 and good fishing may be had after a few months." 



Here Mr. Hosie found the Wood-oil-tree {Aleuriles cordata), 

 "scattered among the fields, seeming to prefer thin-soiled, 

 rocky ground. It grows to a height of about fifteen feet, and 

 has large, beautiful shady green leaves, which were lighted up 

 as we passed with bunches of small pink-white Mowers. It 

 produces a large green fruit like an apple, the large pips or 

 seeds of which contain the oil for which the tree is famous." 

 This oil is used for lighting and in various manufactures, 

 but "the seeds, if eaten, cause nausea and vomiting." 



In the province of Ssu-ch'uan sericulture is an important 

 industry, and "every homestead where Mulberry leaves are 

 procurable is engaged in it," the work again being carried on 

 by women and children, and markets for cocoons and opium 

 being held in each little village at intervals of five days. Not 

 only the Mulberry, but the Oak, and, likewise, Cudrania triloba, 

 furnish leaves for the worms, and the last is believed to be 

 " particularly suited to the infant palate, the silk produced 

 from such a diet being thought superior in quantity and 

 quality." The hemp of this region is furnished by Abntilon 

 Avicenncc, and very heavy crops of wheat are produced by 

 planting at intervals of from nine to twelve inches instead 

 of sowing broadcast. 



In Kuei-chow and Yun-nan the writer describes the popula- 

 tion as scant and lazy, partly because of the mountainous 

 character of the land and the consequent difficulty of trans- 

 portation. But wars and insurrections in former days have 

 also played their part, and we read of ruined cities, built of 

 substantial stone, where the inhabitants now live in wattled 

 huts, using the floors of the superfluous houses for vegetable 

 gardens. 



When approaching the Yun-nan frontier the author met two 

 new crops, Buckwheat and Oats. "I saw, too, a new method 

 of manuring the fields. For some days I had been puzzled to 

 account for the peculiar growth of certain trees whose 

 branches were very short, and for which I could obtain no sat- 

 isfactory explanation ; but all at once I came upon a peasant 

 hacking off the branches and another plowing them into the 

 Rice-fields." When he reached the city of Ning-yuan, in the 

 plain of Chien-ch'ang, he found that but two foreigners had 

 preceded him. This plain is immensely rich, and, in addition 

 to Mulberry-trees, produces " Rice, Poppy, Cotton Safflower, 

 a variety of fruits, medicine and dyes, Cassia, Beans, Wheat 

 and Maize. . . . Pine boards are also a special export from 

 this region. Immense trees are found embedded in the soil 

 on the hills, their positions being discovered from lines of 

 Pine-sprouts. They are dug up, sawn and sent north in large 

 quantities." Here also is the centre of the famous but hitherto 

 little understood "white-wax industry." 



• Mr. Hosie's third journey was undertaken with the special 

 view of providing the authorities at Kew with information 

 upon this subject. From its results the so-called " Insect- 

 tree " of the Chinese has been identified as Ligusirum htci- 

 dum, or Large-leaved Privet. The bark of the branches and 

 twigs of this tree are covered with scales containing infant 

 insects — the White-wax insects. In the end of April these 

 scales are collected and carried by porters across the moun- 

 tains to Chia-ting, made up into paper packets, which must be 



transported with the greatest care and speed. West of Chia- 

 ting stretches a great plain of Rice-fields, and here "almost 

 every plot of ground ... as well as the bases of the mountains 

 are thickly edged with stumps, varying from three or four to 

 a dozen feet in height, with numerous sprouts rising from 

 their gnarled heads. These stumps resemble at a distance 

 our own pollard Willows. The leaves spring in pairs from 

 the branches ; they are light green, ovate, pointed, serrate 

 and deciduous. In June, 1884, when I visited this part of the 

 country, some of the trees were bearing bunches apparently 

 of fruit in small pods ; but as no flowering specimens were 

 then procurable there still exists a little uncertainty as to this 

 tree. I am informed, however, that it is, in all probability, the 

 Fraxinus Chincnsis, a species of Ash. This tree is known to 

 the Chinese as the Pai- la- s hit, or 'White-wax tree.'" When 

 they reach the valley the wax-insect scales "are made up into 

 small packets of from twenty to thirty scales, which are 

 enclosed in a leaf of the Wood-oil-tree. The edges of the leaf are 

 tied together with a Rice-straw, by which the packet is also 

 suspended close under the branches of the Wax-trees. A few 

 rough holes are drilled in the leaf with a blunt needle, so that 

 the insects may find their way through them to the branches. 

 On emerging from the scales the insects creep rapidly up the 

 branches to the leaves, among which they nestle for a period 

 of thirteen days. They then descend to the branches and 

 twigs, on which they take up their positions, the females, 

 doubtless, to provide for a continuation of the race by devel- 

 oping scales in which to deposit their eggs, and the males to 

 excrete the substance known as white wax. Whether or not 

 the wax is intended as a protection to the scales I am not pre- 

 pared to say. . . . The wax first appears as a white coating on 

 the under sides of boughs and twigs, . . . gradually spreads 

 over the whole branch, and attains, after three months, a 

 thickness of about a quarter of an inch." When the deposit- 

 ing is finished the branches are lopped off, as much of the wax 

 as possible is removed by hand, melted in boiling water and 

 skimmed off, when it is ready for sale. Then the twigs and 

 branches are thrown in the pot to secure the remaining wax, 

 and even the insects themselves are squeezed in a bag. It is 

 this method of boiling, of course, which necessitates each year 

 the importation of a fresh supply of scales with eggs or insects. 

 Each wax-tree receives its burden of scales only at intervals of 

 three years. The wax is used in a variety of important ways, 

 and, mixed with tallow, gives much greater consistency to 

 candles, or, used as a coating, prevents their guttering. 



We have but culled a few of the most interesting passages 

 from Mr. Hosie's book without attempting to follow him sys- 

 tematically through his wanderings or to describe coherently 

 the character of the many and very diverse districts he visited. 

 To do this thoroughly would have been almost to quote his 

 book entire, so we may conclude by referring our readers to 

 it as a valuable addition to the literature of travel, and a straight- 

 forward, interesting account of some of those few regions of 

 the world which, while rich in interest, are still almost un- 

 known to us. 



Notes. 



The Revue Hortlcole states that Vilmorin & Co. have pro- 

 duced a double hybrid Cineraria, which will soon be put upon 

 the market. 



The school children of California are to make a collection of 

 the wild flowers of the state, which will be exhibited at the 

 World's Fair in Chicago. 



Mr. C. B. Waldron has been appointed Professor of For- 

 estry and Horticulture in the North Dakota Agricultural 

 College, and Mr. H. L. Bolley, Professor of Botany. 



It is said that the Berlin authorities have issued a caution 

 against the use of dried mushrooms, many cases of illness 

 having been attributed to the presence among them of poison- 

 ous species. 



M. Delaux, well known as an introducer of Chrysanthe- 

 mums, announces, among the novelties of the year, a collec- 

 tion of early flowering varieties which were highly commended 

 at the exhibitions last year. 



According to a report published in Popular Gardening, the 

 total shipments of apples from this country to England during 

 the past season and up to date of November 17th amounted 

 to 192,000 barrels, as against 305,000 barrels shipped up to the 

 same time in 1888. 



Tom Thumb Dahlias is the name given to a dwarf strain of 

 these plants which have been produced by Mr. Girdlestone, 

 Secretary of the National (England) Dahlia Society. The plants 



