AGRICULTURE AMONG THE 

 CHINESE. 



The outrages perpetrated in China and the speculations as to the 

 outcome of the present troubles have caused the public to be pro- 

 foundly interested in that country. Perhaps the following article on 

 Chinese agriculture, may be timely and appreciated. It was written 

 by Rev. Wm. N. Brewster, an American missionary to China, and first 

 appeared in the Field and Fireside. 



No better proof is needed that the Chinese as farmers are indus- 

 trious, careful and intelligent than the fact that in South China nearly 

 all of the soil in the valleys has produced at least two, generally three, 

 and not infrequently four crops a year for thousands of years without 

 reducing its fertility in the least. 



It goes without saying that in order to do this practically every- 

 thing that is taken off of the field is put back upon them. While they 

 know nothing scientifically of the chemical composition of the soils, 

 yet necessity has forced them to study out practically many methods 

 which are scientifically correct. 



That method which is most useful, most distinctive of China, most 

 essential to the very existence of the Chinese as a nation under pres- 

 ent conditions, most offensive to the foreigner's olfactories, and most 

 omnipresent, is due to the fact that nearly all of the products of her 

 soil are consumed by the teeming millions of her population. Cattle 

 are comparatively few, pigs more numerous, but few in proportion to 

 the population, chickens do not count much in the consumption, so 

 that these three or four annual crops are eaten by the people who 

 raise them. If this method were not used the country would become 

 incapable of supporting the population in five years. This fact tends 

 to reconcile the philanthropic foreign visitor or resident to the open 

 vats and open buckets that he must pass or be passed by a hundred 

 times a day as he travels about. But the manure of domestic animals 

 is made the most of, and in the peculiarly Chinese way. 



I said to the man that brought me his pony for a short journey the 

 other day, "Why do you not keep your pony in a clean place? A 

 white horse with a filthy coat is very objectionable to a foreigner." 



"If I clean up the stable every day the manure will not be so val- 

 uable," was the characteristic reply. 



When the bubonic plague was raging last summer I was exhort- 

 ing the village people to clean up about their houses to prevent them 

 taking this fatal disease. A place for feeding the family pig was as 

 filthy as possible. I said, "You ought to clean that place every day. 

 You can fatten your pig just as well, and avoid the stench in the 



