( 9 ) 
Th e [±J Pat -mi or common rice is an 
inferior sort. The glutinous rice * is called 
U. ± liiang-rni in Peking, as it comes 
chiefly from Kiang-su. 
What cultivated plant is meant by 
ICu I am not able to state. In the Pen-ts - ao 
it is called Ku-mi (XX ill 15) and 
judging from the description therein it is a 
kind of corn cultivated in water. The Chi- 
■wu-min" &c. takes no notice of this cereal. 
o 
Thepg pX ( p - XXIII 17 Ch. 
W. I.) Cnix Lacnjma , JFobstears, is also a 
native of China for it is mentioned in the 
Shen-nung pen-ts‘ao. 
There is a plant called Pai, mention- 
ed in Chinese books (P. XXIII 13 Ch. W. 
I.) and cultivated near Peking. It seems 
also long ago to have been cultivated, for 
the character pai occurs in the Shuo-wcn 
(v. s.) This is the JEchinochloe Crus galli 
of the botanists. 
Shu. This name occurs in the Sin- 
king and in the Ch‘un-ts‘iu (v. s.) and was 
related in ancient times probably to the 
Soja-bean\ (Soja (Glycine ) hispida. The 
Kuang-ya (4th century) says that the Shu I 
and the A Ta-tou (great bean) are 
the same. The Pen-ts‘ao (XXIY I and 8) 
states, that there are several kinds of Ta-tou, 
a black, a white and a yellow (so named 
after the colour of the seeds) and that from 
these beans z||£ Tsiang (Soja), bd. IS J ’»- 
fu (Bean-curd) and J=j yjjj Tou-yu (Bean- 
oil) are made. The drawing for Ta-tou in 
the Ch. W. I. represents the Soja hispida | 
All these plants, mentioned, are doubtless 
indigenous in China and cultivated there 
from remote times, according to the Chinese 
authors. 
* As Mr. Billequin, an able Chemist in Peking, com- 
municated kindly to me, the glutinous properties 
of this kind of rice are owing to the great quanti- 
ty of Dextrine or Starch gumini contained in it. 
The common rice contains only 1 per cent Dextrine. 
(Cf. Payen, Substances alimentaires p. 265.) 
t In the work of Loise.leur, “ consideTation sur les 
ceniales I p. 29, there is a translation from ancient 
Chinese works by M. Stan. Julien in which the 
character shu (one of the 5 cereals sowed by Em- 
peror Shen-nung) is translated by “ Ffeve ” (Faba 
sativa, common Bean). With reason Decandolle, 
who refers to this translation (1. c. p. 956) is as- 
tonished that the common bean should be a native 
of China. As I will state below the common bean 
was introduced into China from Western Asia. 
It cannot be decided from the Chinese 
authors, whether the Guinea corn Sorghum 
vulgar e , now so extensively cultivated in 
Northern China as in Southern Europe, 
Africa, Western Asia and India, is indige- 
nous to China. It is not mentioned in the 
Chinese classics.* The most ancient work, 
quoted by Li-shi-chen about the Sorgho is 
the i.Gf Kuang-ya, written at the time 
of the Wei 386-558. The Chinese names 
^ rr| — ^ , 
for Sorgho are Wj) >y> Shu-shu (the first 
character denotes the province Ssu-ch‘uan) 
Lu-su (reed millet) Mu-tsi 
(tree millet) (Kuang-ya), 0^ Kao-liang 
(high millet.) The latter is the common 
name at Peking (P. XXIII 6. Ch. W. I.) 
In Peking where it grows plentifully it is 
employed chiefly for feeding horses and for 
distilling whisky, called Shao-tsiu. 
Regarding the Buchwlieat (Fagopyrum es- 
culentum) Kiao-mai, (P. XXII 26. 
Ch. W. I.) which is cultivated in Northern 
purpose at Peking for making Soja, and Bean-curd. 
Bean-curd is one of the most important articles of 
food in China. It is prepnrated by macerating 
the above mentioned beans in water and milling 
them together with the water. The liquid pap is 
Alfred. To this fluid is added gypsum in order to 
coagulate the Casein and also Chlormagnesium. 
The coagulated Casein or Bean-curd is a jelly-like 
appearance. 
t At Peking two kinds of the Ta-tou are cultivated 
Huang -ta-tou (great yellow 
bean) and the ~/r* Af Hei-ta-tou (black 
s v ' r * 
great bean). The name great bean refers not to 
the seeds but to the whole plant, the Soja bean 
being an erect herb 3 to 4 feet high. The Huang-ta- 
tou, called also 
Mao-tou (hairy bean) 
is the true Soja 'bean, an erect hairy plant with 
trifoliate leaves, little axillare flowers, pendulous 
pods and white yellowish seeds of the size of a 
great pea, but a little oblong. This is the “ Pha- 
seolus japonicus erectus, siliquis Lupini, fruetu 
Pisi majoris • candilio ” described in Kaempfer 
Amoen. exot., the Dolichos Soja of Thunbeg. 
The Hei-ta-tou, which resmbles_ much the Soja 
bean, is also covered with red hairs the seeds are 
of the same size as the Huang-tou but black. 
I think it is a variety of the Soja bean. Both the 
yellow and the black bean are used for the same 
It is known, that Manchuria produces a large 
quantity of Beans (generally in the deports on 
trade called Peas) from which by pressure Bean- 
oil or Pea-oil is made. Bean-oil is largely used in 
China for cooking and for lighting lamps. The 
Bean-calces are exported to Swatow for purposes 
of manure in the Sugar plantations. New-cbuang 
(in Manchuria) exports chiefly Bean-oil and Bean- 
cakes. I have not seen the Bean used in New- 
chuang for this purpose, but from the description 
of others it must he the Soja been. Mr. Payen 
(1. c. 341) has examined leguminous fruits from 
China, which ho calls pois oUagineux de la Chine 
and states, that they contain 13 per cent, oil, 
whilst our common leguminous seeds contain only 
2 to 3 per cent. oil. 
* Lacharme and Mobl in their translation of the 
Shi-king 1830 (the only one existing up to the pres- 
ent time) state that the Kao-leang or guinea corn 
is mentioned in the Shi-king (p. 5i , 260, and 93). 
But in the Chinese text there is only the character 
Liang (v. s.) Setaria. The fancy of the translators 
has added the character Kao. 
