CHINESE AGKICULTURE. 9 



beginning of the Sbang dynasty, b. c. 1765, one of the min- 

 isters of state presented a written memorial to his sovereign. 

 With these superior endowments of mind, and the various 

 elexnents of strengtli flowing from it, they have carried their 

 civilization, both in the culture of the mind as well as of the 

 soil, to such height, that, at one period of the world's history, 

 China stood far above any other nation, and even to this day 

 some of her arts and sciences are not superseded. 



It is not our province to say much at this time of the Chinese 

 elements of intellectual culture. But I wish to bring before 

 you the industrial art of a people whose energies have been 

 exerted for thousands of years in forcing the earth to yield its 

 products to the support of a redundant population. Among 

 the various branches of labor, agriculture holds the highest 

 place in the estimation of the people. To make this labor 

 honorable, the sovereign sets the example by appearing in 

 person, early in spring, on the sacred field, and, with a highly 

 ornamented plough drawn by an ox, he turns over three furrows, 

 the princes of the royal blood five furrows, and, lastly, the 

 high ministers of state nine furrows. This being done, the 

 emperor and his ministers repair to a pavilion and remain 

 there until the whole field is ploughed. The ceremony is of 

 very ancient date, and takes place on the ground of the temple 

 dedicated to heaven and earth at the capital of the empire. This 

 crop, raised by his imperial majesty, is especially consecrated to 

 the use of the gods. At this ceremony, a big ox made of clay, 

 with a number of little ones, arc carried in a procession to the 

 sacred field. After the field is ploughed, these clay images are 

 broken to pieces, and the multitude scramble for the broken 

 bits, and scatter the ashes over their fields to insure an auspi- 

 cious harvest. Throughout the provinces of the empire, civil- 

 ians of high and low degree are also required to perform the 

 same ceremony on the same day. Here the prefect and others, 

 having turned the sod with the plough, return home ; on the 

 second day, they meet at early dawn in a temple dedicated to 

 the god of grain, ofler sacrifices, and repeat prayers, and per- 

 form series of prostrations. As soon as this religious rite is 

 over, at a given signal the clay ox receives a blow on his fore- 

 head, when the crowd rushes to secure a piece of the image to 

 strew on their fields. All lands are held as freehold as long 



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