136 
Origin  of  Cassia  Lignea. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
1      Mar.,  1883. 
Government  Notification  (No.  339);  but  as  in  that  form  its  circulation 
will  necessarily  be  very  limited,  I  think  the  facts  deserve  the  wider  cir- 
culation which  will  be  afforded  by  the  Society's  Journal. 
Mr.  Ford's  journey  was  timed  so  that  he  might  be  in  the  districts  at 
the  season  when  the  trees  were  flowering.  This  enabled  him  to  obtain 
authentic  specimens  for  their  botanical  identification,  and  also  to  wit- 
ness the  operation  of  obtaining  and  preparing  the  bark. 
Mr.  Ford  gives  the  following  account  of  the  geographical  position 
and  extent  of  the  cassia  districts  : 
There  are  three  chief  districts  where  the  Cassia  is  cultivated,  viz.: 
— Taiwu,  in  lat.  23°  34'  N.,  and  long.  110°  18'  E.  in  the  Kwangi 
province;  Lukpo,  in  lat.  23°  6'  N,,  and  long,  112°  24'  E.;  and  Loting, 
in  lat.  22°  52'  N.,  and  long.  111°  8'  E.,  both  in  the  Kwangtung  pro- 
vince. These  are  the  market  towns  of  the  district ;  but  the  cassia  is 
cultivated  over  a  large  area  of  country  stretching  to  considerable  dis- 
tances from  the  towns,  the  extent  of  which  could  not  be  ascertained, 
owing  to  the  unreliable  accounts  given  by  the  different  people  ques- 
tioned, who  either  had  very  vague  notions  of  area,  or  were  disinclined, 
as  they  usually  are,  to  give  information  to  foreigners. 
Taiwu  is  about  four  or  five  miles  from  the  West  River,  and  is 
reached  by  a  pleasant  walk  leading  over  a  plain ;  but  the  nearest  cassia 
plantations  are  situated  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  further  in  a  south- 
ern or  southwesterly  direction,  to  which  there  is  no  communication  by 
river.  Taiwu  is  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  west  of  Canton. 
The  Taiwu  people  said  that  the  area  of  cultivation  was  not  increasing.^ 
"  The  next  most  important,  if  not  the  7nost  important  (or  at  least 
tending  in  that  direction)  district  is  the  Loting  one,  commencing  at 
about  eight  or  ten  miles  distant  from  the  city  of  Loting.  After  leav- 
ing the  West  River,  about  eighty  miles  of  the  Loting  River — the  Nam 
Kong — has  to  be  traversed  before  reaching  the  city,  and  from  there  the 
distance  to  the  plantations  has  to  be  accomplished  overland.  One  of 
the  largest  cultivators  said  that  in  this  district  there  Avere  about 
1,000,000  maus  (about  52,600  English  acres)  under  cultivation,  and 
that  the  area  was  greatly  extending  every  year.  The  cultivation  of 
cassia  has  been  carried  on  here  for  only  about  twenty-five  years,  i.e., 
^"  Near  the  town  of  Taiwu,  according  to  Mr.  Moss  (' Narrative  of  an 
Exploration  of  the  West  River,'  1870),  the  best  cassia  bark  is  produced" 
(Bretschneider,  "  Earlj^  European  Eesearches  into  the  Flora  of  China," 
p.  13). 
