FLORA. Tea, rice, and bamboo are the three most valuable vegetable products—the first for drinking (not usually taken at meals), the see end for food, and the third for the construetior of habitations and implements. The vast area and climatic conditions of China allow a won derful variety both of natural products and of products grown by man. Besides the timber forests, which are richest in the mountainous regions—most of the populous regions of China proper being comparatively treeless, except where there are fruit orchards—there are the tallow, varnish, and camphor trees. the pine and banyan, the cypress and mulberry. The mul berry is eultivated by the millions, init rather as a bush, and almost wholly for its leaf, which is the food of silkworms. In the south the cocoanut and other kinds of palm, with the sub tropical fruits and nuts, are numerous. _Among the fruits, those of the Occidental genera prevail in the north, such as apples, grapes, peaches, many excellent varieties having been introduced from ..1.inerica. In the south the oranges. pine
apples, mangoes. bananas, and many fruits of native growth without European common names, enable most of the inhabitants to enjoy fruit throughout the year. The landa). of which over sixty varieties have been is of all sizes. furnishing not only its young sprout; as food. lint serving numberless pur poses. What iron is to the American, bamboo is to the Chinese. It is used in the building trades, in the decorative arts, and in the manu facture of furniture and utensils, and especially of paper. It plays an important part in phar macy. It furnishes themes for Chinese poets. is maintained throughout the whole em pire by it, and a sprig, of it is borne in the van of the funeral procession." .Nlany giants now common in the West. such as ea inclias, azaleas, and gardenias. are natives of China.