Botany.— The flora is naturally extensive and varied. In the south it is tropical in char acter, farther north sub-tropical, and still far ther there are many plants and trees identical or nearly so with those of middle Europe. Among trees commonly found in China the bamboo (if this gigantic grass should be called a tree), as in India, is perhaps the most valu able of all on account of the almost endless uses to which it is applied. Oaks of different species are common, and the economical uses of the various parts — the wood, bark and galls —are perfectly understood. Even the acorns of some kinds are ground into flour and con verted into a farinaceous paste. Coniferous trees are represented by numerous forms of pine, yew and cypress, some of them of great economic importance. The tallow and camphor trees abound, as also the mulberry and paper mulberry. Palms are not abundant, but the cocoanut flourishes in Hainan and on the ad jacent coast. The Pandanus or is abundant in the south, but the date-palm is not known. The chestnut, walnut, willow and hazel are all indigenous. The fruit-trees include the fig, mango, guava, lichi, loquat, orange, peach, pomegranate, quince, nectarine plum, ap ricot, etc. Plants producing lacquer car varnish and medicinal herbs of various kinds (including ginseng), are also well known. Among shrubby plants, the first place is unquestionably due to the tea-plant, of which further mention is made below. The next in importance is the mulberry, on the leaves of which the silk-worm is nourished. Among flowering shrubs or trees are the rose, with its numerous varieties, the hydrangea, the passion-flower, the lagerstrcentia, Indian pride, the Chinese tamarisk, various species of cactus and the camellia. The Chinese flora is particularly rich in varieties of the azalea. Altogether the abundance of flowering plants, shrubs and trees is a feature of the Chinese flora. Dwarfing is a favorite occupa tion and the Chinese horticulturists force plants to assume the most fantastic forms.
Agriculture.— This first of arts has always been held in the highest veneration in China. During the period of the Empire the emperor himself, to do it honor, repaired annually to an appointed spot with a large retinue, and, taking the plow in his hand, drew a furrow and sowed some seed. A similar festival is held in the capital of each province. The agriculture of the Chinese has been lauded in high terms by almost all who have had op portunities of it. In the important processes of stirring the soil, eradicating weeds, economizing manures, and applying them in the form best fitted to nourish the crop and bring it to maturity, they display unwearied industry and no small degree of skill. On account of the dense population, every square foot of land that can be made to raise food is kept in con stant service and at the highest point of fertil ity. Even mountain slopes are terraced and tilled, sometimes to the height of 8,000 feet, wheat or other grainsbeing the usual crop in these places. farmers slavishly follow a routine which has been handed down without change from untold generations, and not only display no inventive powers themselves, but obstinately refuse to profit by the inventions of other countries. Their implements generally are of the rudest description and though ins proved European and American plows have been sent out and urged on their acceptance, they reject them with disdain, preferring a rude shapeless thing drawn by oxen or buffaloes. They appear to have no idea of raising im proved breeds of horses and cattle by the arts so well known and practised in other countries, The only animal of which the Chinese can be said to have furnished us with an improved breed is the pig. Their asses and mules are also of good quality. Rice, as the principal food of the people, is the staple crop. The rich alluvial plains which aver a great part of the surface are admirably adapted for its culture, and, by lisculageznent, yield amazing crops—not one merely, but in the south lati tudes two crops of rice in the hot season, be sides a winter green crop usually plowed in for manure. In the neighborhood of Ningpo, lat. where the summer is too short to mature two crops in succession, they are still obtained by an ingenious device. The rice is sown in seed-beds and afterward planted out in drills. A first planting is made about the middle of May, and in two or three weeks after, a second planting is made in the intervals between the previous drills. .When the first crop is reaped in August the other is still green, but being stirred and manured, and having plenty of light and air, comes rapidly forward, and is reaped in November. All the steps of the process are
conducted with the greatest care; and the water wheel, worked by the hand, or by an ox or buffalo, is kept in daily operation from the first planting of the crop till it is nearly ripe. The reaping instrument is not unlike our sickle; and the crop, when not thrashed on the field, as is generally the case, is carried home and built up into stacks, resembling those of Europe. The rice is not always grown on alluvial flats, and there is a variety, known as dry-soil rice, that is cultivat like any ordinary cereal. The sides of the fill' are often laid out in a suc cession of terraces, and planted with rice in drills rtuuung across the declivity, thus admitting of being irrigated by streams which, retarded at every step, move slowly for ward without acquiring any impetus. The same mode of culture is also practised with other crops. In the north the crops principally con sist of our ordinary cereals and legumes — wheat, barley, pease and beans. Vegetables of various kinds are gem rally grown for houses hold use. Varieties of the cabbage tribe are extensively cultivated for the sake of the oil extracted from the seeds. The raising of green crops to be plowed in as manure is generally common where rice is cultivated. Two kinds of plants are chiefly employed; one of them, a. trefoil, grown on ridges similar to those which form the intervals in our celery beds. Among other crops regularly and extensively grown may be mentioned sugarcane, used chiefly in a green state; indigo; the castor-oil plant; and numerou,. 'plants grown for their roots. The opium poppy was once so extensively cultivated the demand for the imported article fell aff very greatly. Maize, buck wheat and tobacco may also be mentioned as cultivated crops. Three other plants of the greatest economical importance, and so exten s_ively grown as. to form important branches of Chineae apiculture, deserve a separate notice. The Itzst 43 the mulberry. judging from the quantity of raw silk annually exported, and the general use of silk for dress, especially by the wealthier classes of the country, it is evident that a large area must be appropriated to the cultivation of this tree, and millions of persons employed in the different processes connected with it. The plants are not allowed to exceed from four to six feet high, and are planted in rows, often along the banks of canals. The mulberry farms are small, and are generally worked by the farmer and his family. The Chi nese silk is much heavier than the Italian, and preferred in fabrics requiring lustre and firmness. Whether it owes its quality to a particular variety of mulberry, or to the climate or soil, has not yet been definitely ascertained. The second _plant more particularly deserving of notice is the cotton-plant. That cultivated in China is of the same species as the ordinary American, namely, Gossypium herbaceum. The plantproducing the yellow cotton used in the manufacture of nankeen appears to be of a more stunted habit than the ordinary cotton. It is chiefly cultivated in a level tract around Shang hai, forming part of the Great Plain, and is the staple summer crop. The culture differs little from that of other cotton countries, more especially the cotton districts of India. The third plant, the tea-plant, is cultivated in two varieties — Thea bohea and Thea viridis; and though it was long supposed that the former only yielded black and the latter green tea, it is now known that both kinds of tea are obtained from each. The great tea provinces are Kwang Tung, Fu-Kien and Che-Kiang. In the first the Thea bohea is grown, and the tea is of inferior quality; in the other two the Theo viridis, which yields all the finer qualities and furnishes the greater part of all that is exported to Europe. In these two provinces, where the culture is most extensive and carried to its highest perfec tion, the tea plantations are usually formed in a deep rich loam, never on the low lands, but on the low hilly slopes. The tea farms, as common throughout China in all kinds of cul ture, are small, and their management, includ ing not merely all the steps of the culture of the plant, but the preparation of the leaves for market, is almost invariably confined to the farmer and his family. The leaves are gathered thrice—about the middle of April, when the leaf-buds are beginning to unfold; about a fortnight after, in the beginning of ,fay, when the leaves are fully grown; and when the leaves again are newly formed. The first gath ering yields the finest and most delicate tea, but with considerable injury to the plants.