826 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



But while our farmer has the fault of trying to get too much 

 out of water's-edge plantations, he is distinguished by many 

 economical qualities. He has infinitely multiplied the tranches 

 of the artificial rivers that the wisdom of our emperors and their 

 ministers has created; rich in numerous children, he has used 

 their hands to subdivide the ditches and drain them through 

 thousands of irrigating rills ; and, in consequence of the constant 

 presence of the precious liquid, he has realized prodigies in crops. 

 Water permits him to Use natural manure diluted to the fifteenth, 

 according to the precepts of our sages, and to return to the land 

 what man has taken from it. Water, always abundant, has fur- 

 nished the means of applying the method of transplanting to the 

 cultivation of wheat, and thereby getting larger returns ; and it 

 has made the constitution of small properties possible, and ex- 

 treme subdivision of the land by which an intensive cultivation is 

 secured for the smallest parcel. It is true that other factors, the 

 patience of our peasantry, the wise organization of our mutual 

 banks, and our inveterate habit of spending our money on the 

 ground, have contributed much to our agricultural prosperity ; 

 but all these would have amounted to little in comparison if they 

 had not been supplemented by the vast irrigating works. 



I will add that without these gigantic works the Chinese 

 could never have reached the high degree of perfection they 

 have attained in one of the most important of their industries — 

 pisciculture. Through the abundance of water everywhere, my 

 countrymen, instead of being satisfied to cover the sea, rivers, 

 and lakes with their fishing-boats, have been able to devote them- 

 selves extensively to the raising of fish. The spawn is carefully 

 collected wherever it is found ; instead of abandoning it to the 

 channels of the rivers, the watchful shore-dweller puts it under 

 protection wherever a suitable supply of water is to be found. 

 The irrigation reservoirs are swarming with young fish. The 

 fallow rice-fields, dammed and flooded in winter, are alive with 

 wriggling carps ; and even the rain-water cistern is turned into a 

 breeding-pond. 



This economical management permits us, without piscicult- 

 ural societies, to stock the rivers with millions of fry, and to add 

 a considerable variety of fish to our bills of fare, a part of which 

 is consumed fresh, while the rest, salted or dried, is dispatched 

 into all parts of the empire and sold at a moderate but always 

 remunerative price. 



As a whole, our system of water regulation may be regarded 

 as one of the greatest achievements of the intelligence and labor 

 of men. To it China owes very largely the comfortable condition 

 of its innumerable inhabitants. It is not perfect, for it still 

 leaves much to be desired ; but we know well what is wanting, 



