The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1891-07-28

beetle. This beetle is a species O
Brachytarsus. If left undisturbed tn.
beetle, which is called by the Chimes.
the buffalo," will, needless Of the
Cocci, continue to barrow in the inne,
lining of the scale. which seems to b.
Its food; the beetle is. IN fact, parasite.
| on the Coccus. When a scale is plucket
from the tree the Cocci escape by tn.
orifiee which r made.
Two hundred miles to the northeast
Of the Chien-chang valley, and sepa-
rated from il by series OF mountain
ranges, is the town Of Chatting. in
which insect white wax, as an article
of commerce, Is produced. The scales
are gathered in the Chien-cbang valley,
and are made up into paper packets,
each weighing about sixteen ounces.
Sixty Of these packets make load. and
are conveyed By porters from Chen
chang to Chatting lin former. years
there are said to have been as many as
ten thousand of these porters. They
travel only during the night, in order to
avoid the high temperature of the day,
which would tend to the rapid develop
ment of the insects and their escape
from the scales Atthe stopping-places
the packets are opened out in cool places,
but in spite of this each packet is found
to have lost on an average an ounce in
transit A pound of scales laid down in
Chatting costs in years Of plenty about
half a crown; in bad years the price is
doubled. In favorable years one pound
of scales will produce four to five
pounds of wax. In the plain around
Chatting the plots of ground are thickly
edged with stumps varying from three
or four to twelve feet high, with numer-
GUS sprouts rising from their gnarled
heads and resembling at a distance our
own pollord willows The leaves
spring In pairs from the branches, and
are light green, ovate, pointed, serrated
and deciduous. The tree Is said in all
probability to be the Fraxinus chinen-
sis, . species Of ash
On the arrival Of the scales from Chen
chang, about the beginning Of May.
they are made up in small packets Of
from twenty to thirty scales, which are
inclosed in . leaf of the wood-on tree.
The edges Of the leaf are tied together
with rice straw, by which the packet
is suspended close under the branches
of this ash, or white-wax tree, as tho
Chinese call it. A few rough holes are
drilled In the leaf with blunt needle,
SO that the insects may find their way
through them to the branches. On
emerging from the scales the insects
creep rapidly up to the leaves, among
which they nestle for period Of thir-
teen days. They then descend to the
branches or twigs, on which they take
up their position, the females doubtless
to provide for continuation Of the race
by developing scales in which to deposit
their eggs and the males to excrete the
substance known as white wax. This
first appears as an undertaking on the
sides of the boughs and twigs, and re-
sembles sulphate of quinine, or a cover
ing Of snow. II gradually spreads over
the whole branch and attains after
three months. a thickness of a quarter
of an inch. After the lapse of one
hundred days the deposit is complete,
the branches are Topped of and as much
VI TIC WdA ~ ptosicC - tNhAosSu "
hand. This is placed in an iron pot of
boiling water and the wax. on rising to
the surface, Is SKINNED off and placed
in a round mold, whence it energies as
the white wax of commerce. Where it
is found impossible to remove the wax
by hand the twigs and branches arc
thrown into the pot, so that this wax il
arker and inferior The insects which
have sunk to the bottom Of the pot, are
placed in a bag and squeezed of the last
drop Of wax, and are then thrown to
the pigs The WAX Is used for coating
the exterior Of animal and vegetable
tallow candles, and To give greater con-
sistency to the tallow. 1t Is also said
to be used as sizing for paper and cot
ton goods, for imparting a gloss to
silk, and as furniture polish.