NOTES ON THE AGRICULTURE, 



BOTANY AND THE ZOOLOGY 



OF CHINA 



B. W. SKVORTZOW 



XXXIII. 1 — The Cultivation of Water Vegetables 



at Foochow. 



In the tropics and in China we find a well developed 

 system of water gardens for the cultivation of vegetables. 

 Thousands of acres of swampy lands are thus utilized in 

 China. The gardens being excellently kept are very profit- 

 able. 



It certainly is a wonderful way of utilizing what other- 

 wise would be waste land, and indicates one way in which 

 we might copy them in the use of some of our swampy areas. 



The water vegetables are known to the Chinese from 

 ancient times. Some of these plants, growing wild in the 

 country, have been improved during centuries of cultivation, 

 and now represent important and valuable food products 

 for the people. 



We may first refer to the water-calthrop (Trapa lispinosa 

 and Trapa natans) with two or four horns; the arrow-grass 

 (Sagittaria chinensis and S. Sagittifolia L.), known for its 

 edible bulbs, the water chestnut (Scirpus tuberosus), culti- 

 vated for its tubers; the lotus plant (Nelumbium speciosum) 

 growing in China in several varieties and the Zizania grass 

 {Zizania aquatica) — a kind of tall grass much cultivated 

 throughout China on account of its young stalks, which are 

 eaten as a vegetable. 



Besides these there are several kinds of water plants 

 which grow wild in China, such as the bamboo*, (Limnanthe- 

 mum nymphoides Hoff) : the reed (Phragmites communis 

 Trin.) : the cat-tail (Typha orientalis Presl.). These are used 

 as vegetables. The seeds of the water plants Euryale ferox 

 Salisb., Coix lachryma L., Panicum crusgalli L. var aristata 

 L., Panicum frumentaceum J. and S., Beckmannia cruci- 

 formis Host, are eaten also, and some of them are cultivated. 

 As it was observed at Foochow the water vegetables are 

 well known to the native Chinese : and for the cultivation 



1 Sections I — XXXII appeared in Volume L, pp. 49 — 107. 



