Sleso.a ia ti.eir splendid robes ot cere.u.ny to a - 



laTaliy of the fjovernors to report annn»lly wha 

 raenot-^heir provinces are the best fanner, (that 

 SeLsacco^dil^gto their idea of a perfect agr.c.l- 

 turi^O who are distinguished not only by the 

 So t cai-Iful cultivation of their farms, bu also by 

 Segm^d reputation among their neighbors by 

 the r industry, frugality and -^--?-'y:XfJ^;, 

 men so recommended are elevated by the Emperor 

 Zl certain rank, which gives them many pnv 1- 

 e-es and which may perhaps be compared with 

 that' of the French Chevalier of the Legion of 

 Honor. 



AGRIOTTLTUEAL IMPLEMENTS. 



The agricultural tools of the Chinese are very 

 simple. They have a plow of very primitive con- 

 Tuction. B^ut as nearly all their land is worked 

 bv hand, they use more the spade, hoe and lake. 

 llJ have not so much use for labor-saving ma- 

 Ses as we have, for their farms ^- J^^ ^^^^ f^ 

 hire of a farm hand is very low. But ^^lth tlie r 

 simple tools they keep their farms well m o,de 

 indied, their farms, being so nice and ^'fj^]^}- 

 vated, might be properly called gardens. The only 

 kind if tools resembling o^^'^^trb^^^^^i^I.^, 

 oftenlv very ingeniously constructed, but aiwaj s 

 ?e,T simpll instruments for irrigation of their 

 fields They have different kinds of pumps in 

 common wifh us, or perhaps all kinds m use in 

 this country, evenmany kinds of chain pumps that 

 are patented in America as the invention of some 

 Ya. kee) not excepted. As with us they use often 

 some lever, with a bucket at one end (a swipe) to 

 S he water out of wells or rivers. Or they 

 ha^e water-wheels, which being set m "^of on by 

 Se current, dra^v, by means of small vesses fixed 

 tTth.Mr periphery, tlie water to some gutter, in 

 ^l^ch t nins directly to the fields or to cana s 

 which oft^a on long v.ays bring it to distant lull- 

 rides at iome place down the river. So they have 

 liJe their land very productive. In some parts 

 • Tuht bears crops without hardly any interrup- 

 ;Z and hi done so for hundreds and thonsands of 

 vea;. without any detriment to its productiveness. 

 LuTeed they have to work much, but everythmg 

 KShtint^oaocoun, not more than we For it 



'^^^^tr^^cm:^n would well gro. 

 eigl.tj acres, xim u g .^^^ account our 



t."oulT' in ptolrfng^^w lafids, after we have 

 worked for some years and f '■'^tr-^Y^l ^^^^J^^V^'^fj 

 of our old ones, if we consider our better tools a 

 labor-saving machines, we do more work and with 

 Jess profit tf.an they do. With them it is true, as 



^® ^''^^^ - mile farm won tlllpd 



LiUlo barn woll nileu. 

 GAUDES VEOKTABLK8. 



ve-retables are with them most extensively raised 



EN^ery European or American who has lived ir 



countries where Chinese emigrants abound, thai 



bein<^ especially the countries and islands of lar- 



therlndia and Austral Asia, know well how thej 



supply the markets with every kind of garden veg 



etable'^ and how great is the abundance and diver 



sitv of them. And if an exhibition or sometlnni 



like our fairs could be inaugurated at Canton o 



other similar places, it is my opinion the Chines. 



would greatly excel us. We have no names fo 



all their garden products, but they have at leas 



nearly all those which are raised by us. Ihe; 



li-ive turnips, carrots, asparagus, yams, potatoes 



sweet potatoes, cabbage, pine apples, or bananas 



they have beans, peas, onions, melons, squasbe; 



cucumbers, gourds, and a great variety of kinds o 



each Besides tliere is great diversity ot truiti 



not only those in common with us, but also man 



kinds of oranges and apples (which as their nair 



says originally came from that country to tl 



southern parts of Europe and America), granat. 



apples, lichys, figs, olives, bananas, cocoanut 



Among their other trees the following are impo 



tant • The cassia tree, that gives a kind of cmn 



mon the tea-shrub, the camphor tree, from tl 



wood of which by distillation the camphor is pr 



duced The wood of this tree resembles, wh. 



worked into furniture, somewhat that of o 



black walnut, and boxes and chests made from_ 



are extensively used and exported, for keepi; 



woolen clothes in ; for moths and other in8e( 



which do not like the smell of camphor will nev 



enter them. They have a tallow tree, the fruits 



which are covered with a ma^s resembhng a 



used as the tallow of the ruminating animals ; a 



a wax tree that produces some kind of wax : 



.embling bees wax. There are several kinds 



trees, that partly are poisonous, and produce 1 



lac and varnish by which their turmture exc 



every other, except, that made by the Japane 



The mulberry tree gives, in its leaves, the food 



1 the silkworm. 



FARM CROPS. 



Their farms being more like gardens, the garden 



Other products of their fields and gardens 



tobacco and hemp, for smoking; the leaves j 



seeds of the latter are mixed with tobacco to a 



ment its narcotic qualities. For fibre they ra 



besides hemp, also flax and "^tica nivea-a p- 



from the fibres of which grass cloth, the best k 



of linen known, is made-and cotton. They h 



a kind of cotton with yellow fibre, from wl 



the cioth called with us Kankeen is manufactu 



The other cotton goods, if dyed at all, have mo 



a blue color, the indigo for which is geuer 



raised by the cotton grower himself. A very 



ful plant of much influence m Chinese societ, 



the bamboo. They can make from it mats s 



and can build out of materials made from it, i 



short time, whole houses; and they make e 



kind of household furniture from it, tables 



chairs, bedsteads and sofas, carpets, boxes 



chests • besides fans, umbrellas, buckets, pipe st 



etc. Teachers use it in schools, and magist) 



for enforcing the laws. 



The cereals ditfer according to climate, in 

 southern parts they raise mostly nee. ]^e 

 that, they have several kinds of holcus rye A 

 1 icaii corn, buckwheat, several kinds of millet 



