162 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



observed load liim to conclude that terrace cultivation is in a great measure confined to 

 their ravines, undulations, and gentlest declivities. 



1010. Hows, or driilt, ore almost ttlmttft adopted in planting or sowing; and for this 

 purpose the lands are laid flat, and not raised into ridges with intervening furrows. They 

 are said to be particular in having the direction of their rows from north to south, which, 

 other circumstances being suitable, is certainly a desirable practice. Before sowing, seeds 

 are generally kept in liquid manure till they germinate. Barrow frequently saw in the 

 province of Keang-see a woman drawing a light plough with a single handle (Jig. 131. a), 

 through ground previously prepared; while a man held the plough with one hand, and 

 with the other cast the seed into the drills. 



101 I. Forests of immense extent exist on the mountains of the western districts of 

 China, and abound in almost every species of tree known in Europe, and many others 

 unknown. Besides timber and fuel, these forests supply many valuable products, as 

 barks, gums, oils, and resins, used in the arts. Rose wood, ebony, sandal wood, iron wood, 

 and a great variety of others are sent to Europe for cabinet work. The Chinese aloe has 

 the height and figure of an olive tree. It contains within the bark three sorts of wood ; the 

 first, black, compact, and heavy, is called eagle-wood ; it is scarce ; the second, called 

 calambooc, is light like rotten wood ; the third, near the centre, is called calamba wood, 

 and sells in India for its weight in gold ; its smell is exquisite, and it is an excellent cordial 

 in cases of fainting or of palsy. 



1012. The national agricultural fete of the Chinese deserves to be noticed. Every year 

 on the fifteenth day of the first moon, which generally corresponds to some day in the 

 beginning of our March, the emperor in person goes through the ceremony of opening 

 the ground ; he repairs in great state to the field appointed for this ceremony. The 

 princes of the imperial family, the presidents of the five great tribunals, and an immense 

 number of mandarins attend him. Two sides of the field are lined with the officers of 

 the emperor's house, the third is occupied by different mandarins ; the fourth is reserved 

 for all the labourers of the province, who repair thither to see their art honoured and prac- 

 tised by the head of the empire. The emperor enters the field alone, prostrates himself, 

 and touches the ground nine times with his head in adoration of Tien, the God of heaven. 

 He pronounces with a loud voice a prayer prepared by the court of ceremonies, in which 

 he invokes the blessing of the Great Being on his labour, and on that of his whole people. 

 Then, in the capacity of chief priest of the empire, he sacrifices an ox, in homage to 

 heaven as the fountain of all good. While the victim is ofFered on the altar, a plough is 

 brought to the emperor, to which is yoked a pair of oxen, ornamented in a most mag- 

 nificent style. The prince lays aside his imperial robes, lays hold of the handle of the 

 plough with the right hand, and opens several furrows in the direction of north and 

 south ; then gives the plough into the hands of the chief mandarins, who, labouring in 

 succession, display their comparative dexterity. The ceremony concludes with a distri- 

 bution of money and pieces of cloth, as presents among the labourers ; the ablest of whom 

 execute the rest of the work in presence of the emperor. After the field has received all 

 the necessary work and manure, the emperor returns to commence the sowing with 

 similar ceremony, and in presence of the labourers. These ceremonies are perfonned on 

 the same day by the viceroys of all the provinces. 



Subsect. 9. Of the present State of Agriculture in Chinese Tatar)/, Thibet, and Jiootan. 



1013. Chinese Tatnry is an extensive region, diversified with all the grand features of 

 nature, and remarkable for its vast elevated plain, supported like a table by the moun- 

 tains of Thibet in the south, and Allusian chain in the north. This prodigious plain is 

 little known ; its climate is supposed to be colder than that of France ; its deserts to 

 consist chiefly of a black sand ; and its agriculture to be very limited and imperfect. 

 Wheat, however, is said to be grown among the southern Mandshurs. 



1014. Thibet or Tibet is an immense tract of country little known. It consists of two 

 divisions, Thibet and Bootan. The climate of Thibet is extremely cold and bleak to- 

 wards the south, for though on the confines of the torrid zone it vies in this respect with 

 that of the Alps of Italy. That of Bootan is more temperate ; and the seasons of both 

 divisions are severe compared to those of Bengal. 



1015. With respect to surface, Bootan and Thibet exhibit a very remarkable contrast. 

 Bootan presents to the view nothing but the most misshapen irregularities ; mountains 

 covered with eternal verdure, and rich with abundant forests of large and lofty trees. 

 Almost every favourable aspect of them, coated with the smallest quantity of soil, is cleared 

 and adapted to cultivation, by being shelved into horizontal beds : not a slope or narrow 

 slip of land between the ridges lies unimproved. There is scarcely a mountain whose base 

 is not washed by some rapid torrent, and many of the loftiest bear populous villages, 

 amidst orchards and other plantations, on their summits and on their sides. It combines 

 in its extent the most extravagant traits of rude nature and laborious art. 



