Sessional_Paper_1887-1888 — Page 245

Appendix A.

Extract from a letter received from Mr. CHAS. FORD, F.L.S. Director of the Hongkong Botanical Gardens.

"In reply to your enquiries concerning the preparation and uses of Ch'à tsai ping I have much pleasure in being able to furnish you with some information.'

"While on a Botanical tour in the Kwangtung province, from which I have just returned, I had an opportunity of inspecting plantations of the shrub from which the material is obtained, of seeing mills in which the article is prepared, and of receiving information on both the cultivation of the plant and the preparation of tea oil from an intelligent and courteous old Chinese gentleman.'

"Camellia oleifera, Abel, is extensively grown in South China for the production of seeds which yield a valuable oil known as tea oil. Ch'a tsai ping is the fefuse matter left after the oil has been ex- pressed. The preparation is very simple. The seeds are collected in October or November, dried and taken to a mill where they are crushed in a circular mortar or trough by a pestle drive through it by water power. The seeds after being crushed are steamed and then the mass is placed in a powerful press which expresses the oil. The refuse, after the extraction of the oil is the artic'e known as Ch'a tsai ping. It is produced in cakes weighing, when dry, about 3 ozs. and 34 lbs. respectively. The quality of the two kinds of cake is the same. I am not aware that anything besides the seeds of Camellia oleifera enters into the composition of these cakes."

"Chá tsai ping is used by the Chinese as a hair-wash and as soap for cleansing both the person and clothes. It is also used for the eradication of earth worms from the soil in which plants in pots are grown.

In these gardens we also use it for eradicating earth worms from grass lawns. For this purpose the cake is crushed and boiled. The decoction is then diluted and poured on the grass when the worms come to the surface of the ground. As a rule the small worms die, but the larger ones after a time recover. After being picked up from the grass the worms are often given to fowls and ducks which devour them readily and apparently thrive on them, experiencing no inconvenience from the effects of the Ch'á tsai ping with which the worms were killed.”

BOTANICAL GArdens,

Hongkong, September 20th, 1887.

Appendix B.

Extract from a memorandum on fish-poisoning agents received from Mr. J. H. STEwart Lock- HART the Registrar-General.

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In ponds of great dimensions these drugs (more than one is mentioned) are often used for killing fish and shrimps and are so powerful that not a single fish can escape. The fish so caught are offered for sale and the writer has never heard of a single instance in which any one has suffered from eating fish obtained in this way. Ch'a fu is sometimes used for killing earth worms.'

REGISTRAR GENERAL'S OFFICE;

Hongkong, September 21st, 1887.

True extracts,

WM. EDWARD CROW.