370 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 6 



grow belter. For this reason, barbers save ihe 

 hair whici\ they cut ofi the head:?, and sell for 

 about a halfpenny a pound lo such people who 

 carry it away in bagi? ; and you may often see 

 barks loaded with it. When the plant begins to 

 ear, if the land bo watered with spring-water, 

 they mix quick-lime with it ; saying that it kills 

 worms and insects, destroys weeds, and gives a 

 warmth to the ground, wliich contributes much 

 to its fertility. By this means the rice fields are 

 so clean, that Navarctte, sometimes, walked 

 through them, looking for some small herb; and 

 could never find any ; so that he concludes, the 

 rice which is surprisingly tall and fine, draws all 

 the nourishment from the ground. 



The husbandman sow their grain at first, with- 

 out any order; but when it has shot about a loot, or 

 a loot and an half high, they pluck it up by the roots; 

 and making it into a sort of small sheaves, plant it 

 by a line, and checkerwise ; to the end, that ears, 

 resting upon each other, may stand more firmly, 

 and resist the winds. But, belbre the rice is trans- 

 planted, they level the iand, and make it very 

 smooth, after the Ibllovv'ing manner; having 

 ploughed the ground three or four times succes- 

 sively, always to the ancles in water, they break the 

 clods with the head of their mattocks ; then, by 

 the help of a wooden machine (on which a man 

 stands upright, and guides the buH'alo that draws 

 it) they smooth the earth, that the water may be 

 every where of an equal height ; insomuch* that 

 the plains seem more like vast gardens than open 

 fiplds. 



The mountains in China are all cultivated ; but 

 one sees neither hedges nor ditches, nor scarce 

 any tree ; so fearful ihey are of losing an inch of 

 of ground. It is very agreable to behold, in some 

 places, plains three or four leagues in length, sur- 

 rounded with hills and mountains, cut, from bot- 

 tom to top, into terraces three or lour feet high, 

 and rising one above another, sometimes to the 

 number of twenty or thirty. These mountains 

 are not generally rocky, as those in Europe, the 

 soil being light and porous, and so' easy to be cut 

 in several provinces, that one may dig three or 

 four hundred leet without meeting with the rock. 

 When the mountains are rocky,lhe Chinese loosen 

 the stones, and make little walls of them to sup- 

 port the terraces, they then level the good soil 

 and sow it with grain. 



They are still more industrious. Though in 

 some provinces, there are barren and uncultivated 

 mountains, yet the valleys and fields which sepa- 

 rate them in a vast number of places, are very 

 fruitful and well cultivated. The husbandman 

 first levels al! the unequal places that are capable 

 of culture. Me then divides that part of the land, 

 which is on the same level, into plots; and that 

 along the edges of the vallies, which is unecjual, 

 into stories, in form of an amphitheatre: and as 

 the rice will not thrive without water, they make 

 reservoirs, at proper distances,and different heights, 

 lo catch the rain and the water which descends 

 fi-om the mountains, in order to distribute it equally 

 amon» their rice-plots; either by letting it run 

 down from the reservoir to t he plots below, or caus- 

 ing it to ascend from the lower reservoir to the 

 lii^test stories. 



For this purpose Ihey make use ol certain iiy- 

 draulic engines, which are very simple, both as 

 to their make, ami the manner of playing them. 



If is composed of a chain made of wood resem- 

 bling a chaplet or pair of beads, strong as it wei 

 with a great number ol flat boards, six or seven 

 inches square, and placed parallel at equal dis- 

 tances. This chain passes through a square tube 

 or gutter; at the lower end whereof is a smooth 

 cylinder or barrel, whose axis is fixed in the two 

 sides : and to the upper end is fijstened a sort of 

 drum, set round with little boards to answer those 

 of the chain, which passes round both it and the 

 cylinder: so that when the drum is turned, the 

 chain turns also; and, consequently, the lower 

 end of the gutter or tube being put into the water, 

 and the drum-end set lo the height where the 

 water is to be conveyed, the boards filling exactly 

 the cavity of the tube, must carry up a continual 

 stream so long as the machine is in motion ; which 

 is performed in three ways, — 1st. With the hand 

 by means of one or two handles applied to the 

 ends of the axis of the drum. — 2nd. With the 

 feel by means of certain large wooden pegs, about 

 half a loot long, set round the axle-tree of ihe 

 drum for that purpose. These pegs have great 

 longish heads, rounded on the outside, lor apply- 

 ing the soles of the naked leet; so that one or 

 more men, may with the greatest case put the 

 engine in motion, either standing or sitting; their 

 hands being employed all the while, the one hold- 

 ing an umbrella, and the other a fan. — 3rd. By 

 the assistance of a buffalo, or some other animal 

 made fiist to a great wheel, about four yards in 

 diameter, placed horizontally. Round its circum- 

 ference are fixed a great number of pegs or teeth; 

 which tallying exactly with those in the axle-tree 

 of the drum, turn the machine with a great deal 

 of ease. 



When a canal is to be cleansed, which often 

 ha[)pens, — it is divided, at convenient distances, 

 by dikes ; and every neighboring village, being 

 allotted its share, the peasants immediately ap- 

 pear with their chain-engines, whereby the wa- 

 ter is conveyed from one to the other : this labor, 

 though painful, is soon ended, by means of the 

 multitudes of hands. In some parts, as the pro- 

 vince of Ft)-Kycn, the mountains, though not 

 very high, are contiguous, and with scarce any 

 valleys between; yet they are all cultivated by the 

 art which the husbandman have to convey the 

 water from one to the other through pipes made 

 of bamboo. 



To this surprising industry of the husbandmen, 

 is owing that great plenty oi'grain and herbs, that 

 reigns in China above all other regions. Notwith- 

 standing which, the land hardly sufHces to support 

 its inhabitants; and one may venture to say, that 

 to live comfortably they have need of a country 

 as large again. 



After all, the husbandmen are <renerally poor 

 people, and have but a small parcel of land each. 

 The usual rule is for the landlord to have one 

 half the crop, and pay all taxes; the husband- 

 man has the other half for his pains. 



GRUR WORM. 



From tlic Farmers' Cabinet. 

 A procrastuiating farmer saves the lives of luillioiis of grubs. 



It seems to be a law of nature, that population 

 should keep pace with the means of subsistence; 

 and this law appears to. be faithfully maintained 



