MASSACHUSETTS AGEICULTURE. 



. CHINESE AGRICULTUEE. 



From an Address before tbe Hampden Agricultural Society. 



BY CHAN LAISUN. 



About two thousand years before tbe Christian era, the 

 Chinese tribe settled in the Land now known as the province 

 of Shensi, where they increased greatly until they spread and 

 occupied the whole eighteen provinces, which is now called 

 China proper. The tribe remained a short time in the prov- 

 ince of Shensi, the cradle of the Chinese empire, consolidating 

 strength under their patriarchal chieftains, and gradually 

 pushing themselves at every point of the compass, fighting 

 against physical difficulties of the country. This people 

 brought with them habits of settled labor, and an amount of 

 civilization far superior to those who had preceded them, and 

 thus they were able to subdue the land and replenish it. His- 

 tory shows that no sooner were they settled down in their new 

 acquired territory than the arts of agriculture and weaving 

 were displayed. The cultivation of grain for food and flax 

 for clothing were the first objects of their solicitude. Silk- 

 worms and mulberry-trees were highly appreciated, and great 

 care was bestowed on the rearing of them. It is said the 

 Chinese were clothed with silk long before they had any 

 knowledge of cotton, which valuable plant was introduced 

 into China about GOO years ago from India. In addition to 

 these endowments, the early Chinese possessed the elements 

 of intellectual culture. They had a slight knowledge of 

 astronomy ; knew appvoximately the length of the year, and 

 recognized the necessity of an intercalary month once every 

 three years, to adjust the seasons, on which their process of 

 agriculture depended. They possessed the elements of their 

 present written hieroglyphical language, and as early as the 



