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THE PREPARATION OF VEGETABLE
WAX.
BY
HENRY GRIBBLE, Esq.,
OF NAGASAKI.
Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan on the
23rd December, 1874.
——o——
The production of vegetable wax has always formed one of the principal industries of the province of Kiushiu, and the trees bearing the wax berries (called by the Japanese Haji-mo-ki), grow profusely on the hill slopes and round the edges of most of the cultivated fields (excepting rice ground) of Higo, Hizen, Sinabara, Chikugo and Chikuzen, whereas in Satzuma they appear ta be less prevalent.
The process of producing wax suitable for export to Europe is a tedious one, requiring the outlay of some capital on the part of the manufacturer, who has to keep the berries on hand for at least one year, and, in order to obtain a very superior product, does so frequently for six or seven years from the time of their being picked and sold by the farmers.
The berries ripen in October and November, and are picked by hand in the state shown by the sample marked No. 1 in the accompanying box. After exposure to the sun in that state for about five days they are packed in common straw bags and stored by the manufacturer in his
