CHI N A. 



Agricul- 

 ture. 





ABKICUL- - It is the great maxim of the Chinese government, that 

 7uai. agriculture is the true source of national prosperity and 

 wealth ; and they have, in every period of their history, 

 been forward to bestow the highett honours upon the 

 improvers of this art. The husbandman holds the next 

 rank to men of letters, and the officers of state; and both 

 priests ar.d soldiers are busily employed iu the cultivation 

 of the soil. Besides the annual ceremony of the empe- 

 ror's commencing the labours of the season, at the ver- 

 nal equinox, the fust characters in the empire glory in 

 giving their countenance and aid to the pursuits of hus- 

 bandry ; and, by the honour thus openly and universally 

 testified for the occupations of the labelling classes, a 

 most powerful and permanent impulse is given to their 

 exertions. The emperor is regarded as the sole proprie- 

 Lnd h<~!. tor of the soil; and the holder of a landed estate pays 

 as rent to the sovereign one-tenth of whit his gruiuid is 

 supposed capable of producing. Though he be thus in 

 reality, therefore, a tenant at will, yet he is never depri- 

 ved of his possession, as long as lie continues to pay his 

 rent, or rather land-tax to the crown ; and the Chinese 

 cultivators regard their farms in no other light than per- 

 sonal property, as long as they find means to pay the 

 public assessments. These holders of lands from the 

 crown resemble European proprietors in this respect, al- 

 so, that they can let what portion of their grounds they 

 please, to others, for a rent which is generally equal to 

 half the produce ; and it is on these terms, that the great 

 body of the Chinese peasantry cultivate their little farms. 

 There is thus a pretty equal division of the lands among 

 the growers of grain ; and there are no immense farmers 

 or monopolizers of produce, who can command the mar- 

 ket. There is no ground set apart for the pleasure of 

 individuals, but all is open to cultivation, and a free sale 

 permitted to every dealer. There are no restrictions ei- 

 ther from fishing upon the rivers, coasts, and lakts, or 

 from killing game upon their own lands, and the public 

 ci. commons. Yet, with all these encouragements to the 

 agriculturists, and notwithstanding all the honour attach- 

 ed to their occupation, they are not able to supply the 

 wants of the nation ; and seldom do three years elapse in 

 succession, without a famine in one or other of the pro- 

 vinces. This frequent recurrence of scarcity may no 

 doubt be partly ascribed to the circumstance of China 

 being surrounded by mountainous and barren countries, 

 from which it can draw no provisions in an unfruitful 

 eason, but which it is rather obliged occasionally to sup. 

 ply ; to the want of foreign commerce, which prevents 

 the importation of graiu in the event of deficiencies ; to 



VOL. VI. PART I. 



the destruction frequently occasioned to the crops by 

 droughts or inundations ; to the great quantity of grain, 

 especially of i ice. which, in spite of the existing laws, is 

 daily employed in the distillation of rack, and other spi- 

 ritous liquors. Hut the principal cause of these tcarci- 

 tia? is to be sought in the immense tracts of lands, which 

 are suffered to lie waste, and in the want cf enterprize and 

 skiil ia the Chinese cultivators. It is generally imagined, 

 that every spot of ground in the empire is in a state of re- 

 gular tillage ; and then it is made a matter to be accounted 

 for, how famines should be so very frequent. We read iu 

 many of the accounts of China, of the wonderful fertility 

 of its soil ; of the care of the husbandman to root out 

 every hedge or tree, so that not a foot of ground may be 

 lost ; of the very mountain-sides being cut into terraces, 

 like those of the Pays de Vaud, between Lausanne and 

 Vevay, and covered with produce. All this, indeed, ij 

 strictly the fact in the immediate neighbourhood of towns 

 and villages ; but, partly from the dread of plunderers, 

 and partly from the want of cattle to transport the ma- 

 nure and the produce, the more distant lands are almost 

 entirely useless and unproductive ; and it is calculated, 

 that one-fourth of the whole country consists of lakes 

 and swamps, which are totally uncultivated. On each 

 side of the river Pei-ho, at no great distance from the 

 capital, the gentlemen of the British embassy perceived 

 no appearance of great cultivation. The greater part of 

 the land was sour swampy ground, covered with coarse 

 grass, rushes, and reeds ; and few trees were to be seen, 

 except in the vicinity of the villages. No habitation ap- 

 peared, that could, be considered as the residence of a 

 gentleman, or even as a comfortable farm-house ; but every 

 thing, on the contrary, seemed to indicate the greatest 

 poverty and meanness of condition in the inhabitants. 

 The property of all this waste land is vested in the 

 crown ; but any individual, upon giving notice to the 

 proper magistrate, may obtain whatever portion he choo- 

 ses as a possession, by merely paying into the public gra. 

 naries the estimated part of the produce, as rent to the 

 government. But, owing to the poverty and ignorance 

 of the yeomanry and peasantry, they can neither bear 

 the expence of breaking up waste lauds, nor execute the 

 draining which these wet grounds require. Thus a 

 considerable portion of the richest soil is entirely lost to 

 the community ; and the little spots of ground, which 

 each individual husbandman occupies, seldom yields more 

 produce than pays his rent, and supplies his family. The 

 Chinese cultivators, also, though abundantly industrious, 

 are extremely deficient in agricultural skill ; and it may 

 be said of them, in general, that they are rather garden- 

 ers, than farmers. One of their peasants, indeed, with 

 as much land as he and his family are able to work with 

 the spade, will raise a much greater quantity of food 

 from that spot, than any European could produce ; but 

 if 50 or 100 acres of the best soil were assigned to him 

 as a farm, he would scarcely draw from it even the mo- 

 derate rent required. 



Their instruments of tillage are extremely defective ; implc- 

 and their common plough, which is of the most simple meats of 

 construction, dragged by a single buffalo, and far infe- h " sl > a '"iry. 

 rior to the worst in England, seldom opens the ground 

 to the depth of four inches, in the best and deepest soils. 

 Thus they never turn up new earth, and, though they 

 were in possession of more effective instruments, their 

 asses and mules would not be able to perform the 

 work. The plough is composed of a single piece of 

 crooked timber, the lower extremity of which is armed 

 with the sock, and the superior is guided by the hand of 

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