324 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. I, 1893, 
THE ISLAND OF FORMOSA: ITS AGRICUL- 
TURE, BOTANY, Ac. 
A report by Mr. Hosie on the Island of Formosa, 
with special reference to its resources and trade, has 
been issued as a Parliamentary paper by the Foreign 
of&ce. It differs from the ordinary annual Trade 
Report in that it deals with the resources and trade 
of the whole island. 
Some Phvsicai. Features. 
With regard to vegetation, it is much more tro- 
pical than on the opposite mainland, and leads one 
to attribute to it a much more sonthern origin. 
But what evidence is there to support this conjec- 
ture? It may be said that the greater humidity 
of the island and a richer soil would account for 
the great tropical luxuriance ; but these, powerful 
factors as they are, will not account for the pre- 
sence of plants and trees not to be found on the 
mainland. Either, then, such plants and trees are 
indigenous, or they have found their way to For- 
mosa from other lands. The rattan is a case in 
point. It grows to great perfection in the jungle- 
clad eastern half of the island, and is exported in 
considerable quantity from Tamsui. Now the home 
of the rattan (Calamus rotang, L.) is the Malay 
Archipelago, and the Chinese word t'eng, meaning 
rattan, is supposed to be an imitation of the Malay 
rotang. Is the rattan found elsewhere in China? 
In the Island of Hainan and on the adjacent main- 
land it grows, but Hainan lies between its Iilalayan 
home and Formosa, and this valuable creeper is 
probably a stranger in both islands. The Black 
Stream from the south, with its average velocity of 
thirty to forty miles a day, runs along the east coast, 
and throws on the ieUnd part of the floating vege- 
tation which storms have detached further south. 
The betel-nut palm, too, a native of more southern 
climes, grows in Formosa and Hainan, but is un- 
known oil the mainland between these islands. 
In addition to these I might mention a variety of 
the banana (Mima textilis, Nees), which produces a 
large fruit unrivalled elsewhere in China, and only 
to be had in the same perfection in the Malay Ar- 
chipelago and the Philippines. In Formosa it has 
found tnat volcanic soil which it loves. Many of 
the minor plants, too, which grow with wonderful 
firofusion, are undoubtedly non-indigenous. While 
arger plants and trees would be able to bear the 
transit by sea, seeds would probably succumb to the 
action of salt water and insects would perish, so that 
the Black Stream will not account for the presence 
of the latter. But Formosa is in the direct line of 
typhoons from the south, and seeds an l weak flyers 
like beetles and butterflies could easily be caught 
up, carried along by these aerial currents, and dropped 
on the island. 
Ageicultuee. 
As the level part of Formosa is peopled by im- 
migrants from the Fuhkien and Kwangtung provinces, 
agriculture is conducted on much the same principles 
as on the adjacent mainland, the only difference 
being that, whereas the opposite seaboard is stony, 
and in many places scarcely repays the labour spent 
upon it, the soil of Formosa is bursting with fat- 
ness, and yields with unparalleled profusion. As 
an example of this, I may mention that the tea 
shrubs which now dot the hillsides of the north of 
the island were originally introduced from An-ch'i, 
ore of the poorest districts of the Fuhkien Province ; 
that nowhere can a purer leaf than oi Formosan 
tea be now obtained; and that the once considerable 
tae trade of Amoy, the port through which these very 
tea plants were imported, has, within recent years, 
been almost superseded by the fine texs now pro- 
duced in the island. Some thirty years ago the 
island was known as, the "Granary of China," and 
from it rice was largely exported to the mainland ; 
but the great influx of labourers since that time 
has necessitated a shrinkage in the export, the supply 
nowadays being little more than sufficient to meet 
home requirements, except when the harvests prove 
exceptionally bounteous. 
Mr. Hosie then goes on to tell ue that ftfter rice the 
Bweet potato, which yields two crops a year, is most 
grown, whilst wheat, millet, maize, several species 
of taro, yams, bamboo shoots, lotus, ginger, and 
various vegetables are grown. " The foreign or in- 
troduced cabbage thrives wonderfully, the heads 
frequently weighing as much as twenty poandi 
a piece." Of fruits, there are arbutus, banana, guava, 
jack-fruit, lung-ngan, mango, orange, peach, pines, 
plums, pomelo, quince, and a few inferior lichees. 
EcosfOMic Botany. 
China is the home of a large number of economic 
plants of great commercial value, and of these For- 
mosa, small though it is, possesses a very considerable 
proportion. In this respect the island is indeed 
wealthy ; but up to the present, neither the native 
nor the foreigner has taken full advantage of that 
wealth. These plants I propose to discuss under 
the following heads : — (A.) Textile plants. (B.) Oil- 
producing plants. (C.) Other* commercial plants. 
(ji.) — '1 BXTiLE Plants- — This class includes not 
only such plants as yield fine fibres, like rhea, bat 
all plants from which articles of any description 
can be woven, whether by loom or by band. I do 
not contend that the list is complete ; but, having 
studied the textile plants of China whenever and 
wherever I have had the opportunity, for the last 
three years, I do not think that the omissions, if 
any, can be of any great importance. And I may 
say at once that three of the most valaable textile 
plants cultivated in China are not grown in For- 
mosa: They are Gotsypium herbaceum, L., or the 
cotton plant, Cannabis sativa, L., or the true hemp 
plant, and Alutilon avicemut, Oa«rtu., a plant whicn 
yields Abutilon hemp. 
1. — Boehmeria 7iivta, Hook., and Am., known as the 
grasscloth, rhea, or ramie plant. In Formosa, the 
soil and temperature are exactly suited to its 
wants ; but tne heavy rainfall of the island is 
somewhat injurious to its ^owth. It is propagated 
by rhizome cuttings, and is extensively cultivated 
both by Chinese and savages. 
Some years ago, a foreign firm at Tamsni imported 
a Death machine for decorticating the stems and 
extracting the fibre. The firm was, however, too 
ambitious : it wanted to produce an article like 
floss-silk, and after the fibre was extracted by the 
machine it was boiled and otherwise chemically 
treated. A silk-like fibre was ultimately produced, 
but it was found impossible to reduce it to the 
necessary softness. 
2. Corchonts capsvlarii, L., is the annoal plant 
which yields true Indian jute, and should not be 
confounded with Ahutilon avicennce, Gaertn. 
3. Ananas satitiis, Baker : Grown in the south and 
gives a valuable fibre. 
4. Mttea textilis, Nees, — The extraction of fibres 
from the banana and the manufacture of a yellowish 
cloth therefrom are entirely confined to the savages. 
5. Chamceroj}3 excelsa, Thunb., a palm from which 
cloth is manufactured; used by the peasantry and 
fishermen of China as rain clothes. 
6. Cyperus tegetiformis, Roxb. : A rush, grows 
abundantly in salt, marshy ground on the west coast, 
is used for mat making. 
7. Broussonetia papyrifera. Vent — The paper mul- 
berry grows into a tree in Formasa. The inner 
fibrous bark of the tree made into paper and when 
oiled used for nmbrellaa. 
8. Alpinia mutica, Roxb., grows wild in North For- 
mosa. Its principal use is for making the uppers 
and soles of" straw" shoes. 
9. Pandanus odoratissimus, L. — The screw pine 
grows profusely in North Formosa, and is largely 
used for fencing the ;;fields. Its fibre makes the 
uppers of " straw " shoes. 
10. Ortffia sativa, L. — The straw of tbe rice pkbnt 
is much used for making sleeping mattresses. 
11. Triticuni wdgare, L. — A like use is made of 
wheat straw. 
12. Bambwsaceoe. — To catalogue the uses to which 
the bamboo is put in China would be ao easy task 
bat it would be just aa difficult to point to any 
