(V) 
nilists. One of the most interesting branches 
of botany, of more interest than systematic 
botany,* which usually consists only of dry 
monotonous description of plants, without 
any account of the relation of the plants to 
man — is geographical botany, and the history 
of the cultivated plants The celebrated 
botanist Mr. Alph. De Candolle has already, 
in his remarkable work, Geographic Botani- 
que, 185. '5, expressed his opinion, that the 
Chinese botanical works could throw light 
on some dubious questions in this depart- 
ment. He closes his work in the following 
terms : “L’anciennete, en Chine at au Japan, 
de quelquesunes des races de pi antes cul- 
tivees est curieuse, de memo que la separa- 
tion da people Chinois d’avec les peoples de 
Unde, a une epoque reculee, separation qui 
se prouve par des cultures differentes et par 
des norns de plantes usuelles, absolument 
different^. J’ai senti h plusieurs reprises 
dans mes recherches combien l’etude des en- 
cyclopedies Chinoises et Japonaises pourrait 
rendre plus de services h l’histoire des es- 
p^ces cultiv6es, laquelle h son tour est im- 
portante pour l’histoire des nations." Indeed, 
these works conceal accounts of interest; it is 
however very difficult “to fish out the pearls 
from the mud.”f The pages of Notes and 
Queries have been much taken up with in- 
teresting discussions on this subject, especial- 
ly on the introduction of certain cultivated 
plants into China. The Chinese autiiors 
agree in stating, that Cotton was introduced 
about the 9th or 10th century from Central 
Asia and Cochin China. In the same manner 
it can be proved from Chinese sources that 
Maize and Tobacco are not indigenous in 
China. Cf. Notes and Queries Vol. II No. 
4, 5, Yol. I No. 6. 
* I do not wish, however, to be suspected of denying 
the great importance of systematic botany, the 
basis of all botanical science. The great confusion, 
however, which occurs in botanical nomenclature 
Is to be deplored, for some botanists create un- 
necessarily new genera arid species, which in reali- 
ty do not exist. In this way the scientific syno- 
nyms of plants become very numerous and we are 
often embarrassed as to which name should be 
quoted. Sometimes it may be more intelligible to 
quote unpopular indigenous name, than a scientific 
one. Ip would be very desirable, if the botanists 
of all nations would adopt the valuable work, Just 
now published, of Bentliam and Hooker, Genera 
plantarum, as a botanical code, 
t It seems, that the Chinese have a predilection for 
Investigating the origin of natural objects. I need 
only cite the 
in 100 books, 
published in 17S5. In this work the origin and 
history of every subject is treated of in along 
series of quotations from the native literature, 
ancient and modern ; 10 books are dedicated to the 
Investigation of the origin of the different plants, 
and represents therefore a kind of Chinese geo- 
graphical botany. Another work in this depart- 
ment is the 
% 1$ ^5 B 
It contains an enumeration and description of all 
plants and animals mentioned in the Shi-king, 
We can, I believe, assume with certainty, 
that all plants mentioned in the Materia 
Medica of the Emperor Shen-uung , in the 
Chinese classics (the Shu- king, the Shi-king , 
the Chou-li , the Chun- 1 mi and other works 
of great antiquity *) and in the Rh-ya (v. s.) 
are indigenous in China and have not been 
introduced front other countries, for only 
about T20 B. C. the Chinese became ac- 
quainted with the distant countries of Asia, 
especially Western Asia. India, even then, 
they knew only by name. Before that time 
they had intercourse only with their nearest 
neighbours. It can also be said, that all 
plants designated in Chinese writings by one 
peculiar character, are indigenous. 
I may be allowed to make here a few re- 
marks on the products of the field and the 
garden in China and on the antiquity of their 
cultivation according to Chinese works. Al- 
though much has been written in Europe on 
Chinese agriculture, no details are to be 
found on the cereals cultivated by the Chi- 
nese. The following notes are for the most 
part taken from the Pen-ts‘ao-kang-mn, j* 
which quotes all the ancient works above 
mentioned. 
Ssfl-ma-ts‘ien, the Herodotus of China, in 
his historical work Shi-ki, written 
in the second century B. C., states that the 
Emperor Shen-nung 2700 B. C. sowed the 
five kinds of corn (M a) t Cf. 
* The ^((( Shu-king, “ Book of History” com- 
piledby Confucius (about 500 B. C.), the 
Shi-king, “Book of Odes,” a collection of ballads 
used in ancient time, selected and arranged by 
Confucius. — The 
m 
Ch‘un-t‘siu, Spring 
and Autumn Annals, also written by Confucius.— 
The JM Chou-li, “Ritual of the Chou 
dynasty,” written about 1100 B. C. All these 
works have been translated into European lan- 
guages. The j j | yfrj. Shan-hai-king, “ Hill 
and river classic” has nearly an equal antiquity, 
t The abbreviation P in the following denotes the 
Pen-ts‘ao kang-mu, the letters Oh. IV. relate to the 
drawings in the Chi wu ming shi t‘u k‘ao. 
t It is known, that at the vernal equinox the cere- 
mony of ploughing the soil and sowing of the 5 
kinds of com are performed by the Emperor as- 
sisted by members of the boards. According to the 
Ta-ts'ing-hui-tien, a des- 
cription of the Chinese Government (Chap. 250 
p. i.), where this ceremonial is desc ribed, the 5 
corns sowed are Too, (rice) Mai (wheat) 
Ku (Setaria italica) Shu (Panicum mil- 
iaceum) and Shu (Soja bean.) The Emperor 
sows the rice, the three princes and the members 
of the boards sow the remaining cereals. As I 
have been informed by the overseer of the Sien- 
nung-tan or temple of Agriculture in the Southern 
part of the Capit al, where this ceremony is per- 
formed every year, the 5 cereals now used for this 
purpose are rice, wheat, Sorgho, Setaria italica, 
and the Soja bean. 
