34 



ON THE TALLOW TREE, ETC. 



branches and bear fruit. Some are made to fall over rivulets, forming 

 convenient bridges. They are seldom planted where anything else can 

 be conveniently cultivated — in detached places, in corners about houses, 

 roads, canals, and fields. Grafting is performed at the close of March, 

 or-early in April, when the trees are about three inches in diameter, and 

 also when they attain their growth. 



WAX-TREE AND INSECT. 



Fac-simile of a drawing made from the Pun-tsaou-kang-muh. The upper 

 characters on the left are Chung-lit (insect-wax) ; beneath them, Lit-chung (wax- 

 seed ; in the right-hand corner at bottom Tinig-tsing-shoo (winter-green-tree). 



The ' Fragrant Herbal ' recommends for trial the practice of an old 

 gardener, who, instead of grafting, preferred breaking the small branches 

 and twigs, taking care not to tear or wound the bark. In mid-winter, 

 when the nuts are ripe, they are cut off with their twigs by a sharp cres- 

 centic knife, attached to the extremity of a long pole, which is held in 

 the hand and pushed upwards against the twigs, moving at the same 

 time such as are fruitless. The capsules are gently pounded in a mortar 

 to loosen the seeds from their shells, from which they are separated by 

 sifting To facilitate the separation of the white sebaceous matter en- 



