Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 



161 



feet wide, with a single row of teeth, is drawn, by the same animal that draw; their plough perpendicu- 

 larly through the soil, to break the lumps, and to convert it into a kind of ooze; and as the teeth of this 

 rake or harrow are not set more than from two to three inches apart, it serves, at the same time very 

 effectually to remove roots and otherwise to clean the ground. For some purposes, the ground thus pre- 

 pared is allowed to dry ; it is then formed into beds or trenches ; the beds are made of a convenient size 

 for watering and laying on manure. The intermediate trenches are commonly about nine inches deep 

 and of the necessary breadth to give to the beds the required elevation ; biit when the trenches are 

 wanted for the cultivation of water plants, some part of the soil is removed, so that a trench may be 

 formed of the proper dimensions. 



998. For these operations they use a hoe, commonly ten inches deep, and five inches broad, made of 

 iron, or of wood with an iron border, and for some purposes it is divided into four or five prongs. By 

 constant practice the Chinese have acquired such dexterous use of this simple instrument, that they form 

 their beds and trenches with astonishing neatness and regularity. With it they raise the ground which 

 has not been ploughed, from the beds and trenches, by only changing it from a vertical to a horizontal 

 direction, or employing its edge. It is also used for digging, planting, and in general for every purpose 

 which a Chinese husbandman has to accomplish. 



999. The collection of manure is an object of so much attention with the Chinese, that a prodigious 

 number of old men, women, and children, incapable of much other labour, are constantly employed about 

 the streets, public roads, and banks of canals and rivers, with baskets tied before them, and holding in 

 their hands small wooden rakes, to pick up the dung of animals, and offals of any kind that may answer 

 the purpose of manure : this is mixed sparingly with a portion of stiff loamy earth, and formed into 

 cakes, dried afterwards in the sun. It sometimes becomes an object of commerce, and is sold to farmers 

 who never employ it in a compact state. Their first care is to construct very large cisterns, for containing! 

 besides those cakes and dung of every kind, all sorts of vegetable matter, as leaves, roots, or stems of plants^ 

 with mud from the canals, and offals of animals, even to the shavings collected by barbers. With all these 

 they mix as much animal water as can be procured, or common water sufficient to dilute the whole ; 

 and, in this state, generally in the act of putrid fermentation, they apply it to the ploughed earth. In 

 various parts of a farm, and near the paths and roads, large earthen vessels are buried to the edge in the 

 ground, for the accommodation of the labourer or passenger who may have occasion to use them. In 

 small retiring-houses, built also upon the brink of the roads, and in the neighbourhood of villages, reser- 

 voirs are constructed of compact materials, to prevent the absorption of whatever they receive, and straw 

 is carefully thrown over the surface from time to time, to prevent evaporation. Sue li a value is set upon 

 the principal ingredient, called ta-feu, for manure, that the oldest and most helpless persons are not 

 deemed wholly useless to the family by which they are supported. The quantity of manure collected by 

 every means is still inadequate to the demand. 



1000. Vegetable or wood ashes, according to Livingstone, are esteemed the very best 

 manure by the Chinese. The weeds which were separated from the land by the harrow, 

 with what they otherwise are able to collect, are carefully burnt, and the ashes spread. 

 The part of the field where this has been done is easily perceived by the most careless 

 observer. Indeed the vigour of the productions of those parts of their land where the 

 ashes have been applied is evident, as long as the crop continues on the ground. The 

 ashes of burnt vegetables are also mixed with a great variety of other matters in forming 

 the compositions which are spread on the fields, or applied to individual plants. 



1001. The plaster of old kitchens is much esteemed as a manure ; so that a farmer will replaster a cook- 

 house for the old plaster, that he may employ it to fertilise his fields. 



1002. Of night-soil (ta-feu), the Chinese have a high notion: and its collection and formation into cakes, 

 by means of a little clay, clay and lime, or similar substances, give employment to a great number of indi- 

 viduals They transport these cakes to a great distance. This manure in its recent state is applied to the 

 roots of cauliflowers, cabbages, and similar plants, with the greatest advantage. 



1003. The dung and urine of all animals are collected with great care ; they are used both mixed ami 

 separately. The mixture is less valuable than the dung, and this for general purposes is the better the 

 older it is. Horns and bones reduced to powder, the cakes left after expressing several oils, such as of the 

 ground-nut, hemp.seed, and the like, rank also as manures. Small crabs, the feathers of fowls and ducks, 

 soot, the sweepings of streets, and the stagnant contents of common sewers, are often thought sufficiently 

 valuable to be taken to a great distance, especially when water carriage can be obtained. 



1004. Lime is employed chiefly for the purpose of destroying insects ; but the Chinese are also aware of 

 its fertilising properties. 



1005. The Chinese often manure the plant rather than the soil. The nature of the climate in the southern 

 part of the empire seems to justify fully this very laborious but economical practice. Rain commonly falls in 

 such quantities and with such force as to wash away all the soluble part of the soil, and the manure on which 

 its fertility is supposed to depend ; and this often appears to be so effectually done, that nothing meets the 

 eye but sand and small stones. It is therefore proper that the Chinese husbandman should reserve the 

 necessary nourishment of the plant to be applied at the proper time. For this purpose reservoirs of the 

 requisite dimensions are constructed at the corner of every field, or other convenient places. 



1006. Willi the seed or young plant its proper manure is invariably applied. It is then 

 carefully watered in dry weather night and morning, very often with the black stagnant 

 contents of the common sewer ; as the plants advance in growth the manure is changed, 

 in some instances more than once, till their advance towards maturity makes any further 

 application unnecessary. 



1007. The public retiring-houses are described by Dr. Abel, as rather constructed for 

 exposure than concealment, being merely open sheds with a rail or spar laid over the 

 reservoir. 



1008. The mixture of soils is said to be a common practice as a substitute for manure : 

 " they are constantly changing earth from one piece of ground to another ; mixing sand 

 with that which appears to be too adhesive, and loam where the soil appears to be too 

 loose," &c. 



1009. The terrace cultivation is mentioned by Du Halde and others, as carried to great 

 perfection in China : but the observations of subsequent travellers seem to render this 

 doubtful. Lord Amherst's embassy passed through a hilly and mountainous country for 

 many weeks together: but Dr. Abel, who looked eagerly for examples of that system of 

 cultivation, saw none that answered to the description given by authors. Du Halde's 

 description, he says, may apply to some particular cases : but the instances which he 



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