258 ANALYSIS OF A WOllK 



The tliird section records all that the diftereut dynasties of 

 sovereigns have instituted as regulations and customs to give 

 inipovtance and encouragement to husbandry. In my work on 

 China I had -occasion to state that agriculture has always been 

 called the "root," and manufactures and trade only the "branches." 



Sect. IV., V. These two sections are on the construction and 

 ■regulation of fields and cultivated lauds. They are ranked in the 

 three-fold order of — 1, Rice-fields, or those artificially levelled or 

 flooded, and called Tien ; 2, those destined to the ordinary, 

 natural, or dry cultivation, called Te ; 3, the hills, or more barren 

 and waste lands, called Shan. These three constituted the 

 divisions of Chusan during our occupation,''' and they pay dues 

 to government accordingly, in a descending scale. Tlie terrace 

 cultivation in steps is called Te-tien, or "Ladder-fields." 



So generally have the Chinese adhered to the decimal scale, on 

 account of its obvious advantages, that their land measurements, 

 are squares of ten. Thus a hundred square Poo make a Mow, or 

 what has been called a Chinese acre : a hundred Mow make a Foo. 

 The original or theoretical divisions of laud were in the style of a 

 qhess-board, which of course usually becomes impossible in practice. 



Sect. VI.' — XL The six next sections are entitled the " Busi- 

 ness of Husbandry." The sixth and seventh relate to the 

 management of farms, ploughing, and the use of manures. It is 

 inculcated as a maxim in farming, "Better a little land and good 

 than much and bad." The eighth and ninth sections are on the' 

 breaking up and reclaiming of waste lands. The government as 

 an encouragement to the cultivation of wastes, and the production 

 of food for the people, allows any unreclaimed lands to become 

 the property of him who first brings them into tilth, and levies no 

 taxes until such time as the produce yields a surplus. The tenth 

 and eleventh sections treat of the four seasons and their respective 

 productions. The twelve lunations of the Chinese year are 

 reviewed in detail. The various natural phenomena of each 

 period, with the plants and animals which distinguish each, are 

 enumerated, and there is a complete collection of prognostics.! 

 In the tenth section is given a curious diagram, consisting of con- 

 centric circles, after tlae fashion of those which surround the 

 Chinese compass. Near the centre are the seasons, months, &c., 



* " Chusan, with a Survey Map of the Island." — Journal of the Royal 

 Geofjmphical Societi/, vol. xxiiL, art. 20. 



t The subjects are exactly those of the Pheuomeiia and Dlosemcia of the 

 Greek poet Aratus. 



