FOREIGN NOTICES. 



379 



is the universal edible,) fiom one to another 

 of which we can retreat if disaster falls up- 

 on our harvest fields. In short, the abund- 

 ance of soil puis the average distance be- 

 tween ordinary plenty and want at so many 

 degrees, that famine is a thing hardly pos- 

 sible in America. Indeed, we are to the 

 world what Sicily was to Italy ; what Egypt 

 was to Canaan. 



No words can ever convey a measure of 

 this blessing to our understanding. We 

 have never felt famine ; never seen wast- 

 ing men and pining children, in supplicat- 

 ing agony for a morsel of bread to expel 

 from the stomach the torments of hunger. 

 We have never wandered on the beach to 

 search for bitter roots, nor parted the spoils 

 of the forest with the swine. Because we 

 have always had abundance, it seems no 

 peculiar blessing more than the air which 

 we breathe, the water that we drink. But, 

 oh, of what value is one poor gasp to a dy- 



ing man I How precious one drop of wa- 

 ter in a burning desert ! 



If we except one or two small territories, 

 the United States is the only place on earth 

 where all, down to the very bottom of so- 

 ciety, are JuUy fed and well clothed. We 

 are to remember that our abundance is not 

 extraordinary; contrariwise, it must annu- 

 ally increase. As more land is reduced to 

 tillage, as every part of it is better culti- 

 vated, as science more thoroughly directs 

 the farmer's hand, and new instruments of 

 agriculture are invented, the harvests must 

 wave broader and heavier, the scythe and the 

 sickle grow brighter in the long labor, and 

 the barn and granary, overcharged, refuse to 

 hoard the immoderate abundance of the soil. 



The world is to be fed at our hands. 

 And famine shall be borne away, as a bird 

 of prey upon a mighty wind, when the songs 

 and shouts of our harvest-fields shall roll 

 over the abodes of foreign wretchedness. 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



Chinese Agriculturc— Much has been writ- 

 in praise of Chinese Agriculture. No doubt they 

 have been diligent cultivators of the soil from a re- 

 mote period ; and some centuries ago, when their 

 agricultural and gardening operations were view- 

 ed by Europeans, they appeared to be superior 

 to much that was practiced in the West. But 

 like all their other habits and arts, agriculture has 

 been, and still continues stationary amongst the 

 Chinese ; while in Europe, and in Britain especial- 

 ly, it has made great advances. The consequence 

 is, that Chinese agriculture, as compared to British, 

 is now far behind. It evidently appears a mistaken 

 notion, too, which we have all along adopted, that 

 every acre and inch of land in China is under a 

 state of high cultivation. It is true that the level 

 plains and hills of moderate height, are all under 

 cultivation, and especially so in the neighborhood of 

 cities. But Mr. Fortune, in his botanical excur- 

 sions, roamed for many miles over mountains and 

 ravines that were still in a state of nature ; some 

 of the hills were perfectly bare and rocky, and des- 

 titute of all vegetation ; and others were covered 

 ■with wild plants and brushwood. The houses of 

 the peasantry and small farmers were also of a 

 very mean description, built of mud and stones, 

 with mud floors and very few domestic convenien- 

 ces. The agricultural implements are of the sim- 

 plest kind, and not in the very best condition ; in 

 short, every thing betraying a state of matters 

 somewhat similar to what prevailed in Scotland 

 some fifty years ago, when agriculture had not ge- 

 nerally attained that perfection to which it has now 



arrived with us. The generally fertile soil, how- 

 ever, the favorable climate, and the really indus- 

 trious habits of the people, are all conducive to an 

 abundant production of the fruits of the earth 'over 

 the whole extent of the country. 



Rice is the staple production in all the valleys 

 of the warmer southern provinces. As it forms a 

 chief article of food among the Chinese, its culti- 

 vation is extensive. In the south, two crops of 

 this grain are raised in the hot months, besides a 

 crop of some more hardy vegetable in winter. The 

 ground is prepared in spring for the first crop of 

 rice, as soon as the winter grain crops are removed 

 from the fields. The plough, which is commonly 

 drawn by a buffalo or bullock, is a rude instrument, 

 but light, and perhaps more suited to the kind of 

 work than the British plough, which has been tried 

 and found too heavy and unmanageable. .A.s the 

 land is always flooded with water before it is 

 plowed, this process consists in turning up a layer 

 of mud and water six or eight inches deep, which 

 lies on a solid floor of hard stiff clay. The plough 

 never goes deeper than this mud and water, so that 

 the ploughman and his bullock, in wading through 

 the Held, find a solid footing at this depth below the 

 surface. The water buffalo, generally employed 

 at the south, is well adapted for this'work, as he 

 delights to wallow amongst the mud, and is often 

 found swimminii and amusing himself in the canals 

 on the sides of the rice fields. But it must be an 

 unhealthy operation for the poor laborer, who, ne- 

 vertheless, pursues it cheerl'ully, and apparently 

 happy. After the plough comes a harrow, without 



