24 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



A LETTER FROM CHINA. 



The following letter from William Breck, Esq., 

 IT. S. Consul at Swatow, China, will be read with 

 interest : 



NiNqpo, China, Aug. 20th, 1861. 

 My Dear ITarris: In no part of the world is so 

 much attention paid to the cultivation of the soil 

 as in China. In many parts of the kingdom every 

 foot of laud is made to produce its utmost, found 

 necessary to support its population of 400,000,000. 

 Sterile, rocky, and- -to any one but a Chinaman — 

 impossible hills are terraced to their summits, the 

 soil carefully collected from between the rocks and 

 made into beds, often but a few inches wide or a few 

 feet square, and planted with vegetables. The econ- 

 omy of soil is observed on all sides, and by a system 

 of manure and irrigation the poorest soils are forced, 

 year after year, to produce two annual crops. 



In the southern provinces bean-cake is exten- 

 sively used for enriching the soil. The bean grows 

 in the neighborhood of the Gulf of Petchele, is 

 pressed into round cakes a foot in diameter and 

 two inches thick, and exported in large quantities 

 to the south of China and used as guano. The 

 excrement from the human body is regarded by 

 Chinese as the richest manure, and whenever pos- 

 sible the ripening crops are covered with it. Every 

 particle is careftvlly collected and hoarded, and for 

 this purpose stone jars and small open houses are 

 common on the streets in all the towns and cities. 

 These are emptied daily, usually by the Coolie 

 women, and in large open buckets carried into the 

 country. In the neighborhood of Foo-Chow, a 

 city of 500,000 inhabitants, one often meets in 

 the narrow paths among the hills in the suburbs, 

 and where escape is impossible, one or two hun- 

 dred in a row, of these Celestial female scavengers, 

 with their odoriferous burdens upon their shoulders. 

 Frufts and vegetables of all kinds are grown 

 in China, but the peaches, apples, pears, water- 

 melons, etc., have, an insipid taste — they lack flavor 

 and pungency. The tomato is the only vegetable 

 which has a home taste. Characteristic-like, the 

 Chinese gather fruit when half ripe, but corn for 

 table use is allowed to remain upon the stalk until 

 hard.. A hoe is used instead of a shovel; a scoop- 

 shape basket with handles instead of a wheelbar- 

 row. Hands, arms, and back accomplish here 

 what steam and labor-saving machines do in other 

 parts of the world, and a large surplus of patience 

 is indispensable to comfort. 



_ Ningpo is said to be the finest city open to for- 

 eigners. It contains a population of between three 

 and four hundred thousand, and is surrounded by 

 a wall some five miles in circuit. The streets are 

 wide and clean as compared with most other Chinese 

 cities, and in some parts of the city a considerable 

 space is occupied by gardens and tombs. The latter, 

 covered With shrubs and vines, give it a rural ap- 

 pearance seldom seen in Chinese towns. The 

 country immediately about is low, and rice is ex- 

 tensively cultivated, but a few miles back there are 

 ranges of beautiful hills, and pheasants, grouse, tur- 

 keys, deer, and wild pigs are found in abundance. 

 Ningpo is celebrated also for its excellent mutton. 

 * Many of the few good things which the gods have 

 vouchsafed to China are to be had here. The 

 thermometer ranges during the year from 100° 



down to zero. For the last ten days it has crowd- 

 ed 100° close, and the same may be expected until 

 the middle of September, but fortunately we are 

 blessed with ice in abundance. The ice is gathered 

 when about two inches thick from canals and arti- 

 ficial ponds, and is packed away in mud-houses 

 built entirely above ground. 



Ningpo is more famous for its missionary than 

 its mercantile establishments. Natural obstruc- 

 tions in the river and its close proximity to Shang- 

 hai prevent its becoming a great place for trade, 

 whereas the friendly and peaceable character and 

 literary superiority of the people, the climate,, 

 etc., enhance its advantages lor missionary ope- 

 rations—Church of England Missionary Soci- 

 ety, English Baptist Mission, American Presby- 

 terian, American Baptist, Roman Catholic, Sis- 

 ters of Charity, etc., etc. In about two thou- 

 sand years the good seed sown in China at 

 such fearful expense of life, and health, and treas- 

 ure may take root.* The soil is not found very 

 propitious. The Chinese are materialists. Mo- 

 ney for the gratification of sensual pleasure they 

 beg for, work for, commit murder and robberv 

 for, live and die for. Truth and honestv, where 

 concealment is possible, are foreign to their na- 

 tures. They have remained stationary for 2,000 

 years. A deluge can never wash them clean— a 

 fire may purify them. As a people they are a mar- 

 vel — wondered at but not admired. w. b. 



NOTES FROM MAINE. 



Pumpkins and Beans among Corn. — It was 

 asked some time within a year, by the editor of the 

 Farmer, if it was or was not customary to plant 

 pumpkin seeds and beans with corn at planting 

 time, or after the corn was up, in the New Eng^ 

 land States, and if it was thought to be injurious 

 to the corn to thus plant them. 



As far as I have been able to learn, by inquiry 

 and observation, they are planted with corn gene- 

 rally in Maine; some planting them very sparsely, 

 others liberally, so that, should the corn crop fail, 

 the pumpkins and beans will partly make up the 

 loss. , Those planting a week or ten days after the 

 corn do it generally that the corn may get the 

 start in the spring, and if it proves favorable it will 

 take the lead, and the others will be a secondary 

 crop._ None, scarcely, consider them otherwise 

 than injurious to the com, but each one would set 

 the amount differently. If a farmer wishes to 

 raise a premium crop of corn, every other crop is 

 kept out. There are more who plant the three at 

 one time than otherwise. The beans are usually 

 planted upon the north side of the hills, or equi- 

 distant between them, and a pumpkin seed here 

 and there according to taste. 



Crops.— Corn proves to be much better than 

 was expected all through the spring and summer, 

 on account of a favorable September. Wheat 

 yields quite poorly, except that which was sown 

 very early, and the grain aphis injured the oats 

 materially. The early drouth, which was the se- 

 verest for years, cut off the potato crop badly after 

 it promised to be a very good one. The gardens 

 were very generally successfully attacked by insect 



*" Let us not be weary in well-< loins; for in due season we 

 shall reap if we taint nut." Gal. vi., 9. ' 



