THE EDEX 01- THE FLOWERY REPUBLIC 



369 



load of 106 pounds on an average jour- 

 ney of thirty miles. 



Nothing is on wheels. Not a "wheeled 

 vehicle is seen in all West China except 

 the wheelbarrow, near Cheng-tu. Thou- 

 sands of tons of commerce pass over 

 these highways annually, all on the backs 

 of men; and as we approach the centers 

 of population we find the sewage and the 

 water of the city are on their backs also. 



A NATION ON THE BACKS OE MEN 



The "Back of Alan" is the unwritten 

 epic of this land ; for, Atlas-like, it bears 

 the world upon it. The coal and other 

 minerals from the mountains ; the cities, 

 with their walls and towers and all that 

 they contain ; the wood on the hills and 

 the grain of the plain — all. together with 

 the pigs en route to market and the men 

 who can afford it — all have ridden or ride 

 upon the back of man. 



The reason is not far to seek. It is 

 purely economic. Man is the most ef- 

 ficient machine and the cheapest animal, 

 and so it comes to pass that he is the 

 universal animal, the omnibus of com- 

 merce and the pack-mule of the race. 



It is cheaper to wear men down than 

 keep roads up. W nen he falls, few care 

 and still fewer pity, for others are eager 

 to fill his place. Should we offer to take 

 the burden from his shoulder, he would 

 regard it as taking the rice from his bowl. 



Sharing with these carriers the burden 

 of the nation's life is the proverbial "Alan 

 with the Hoe." usually a poor tenant giv- 

 ing half his crop for the rent of his acre. 

 Frequently, however, he is able to own 

 his own implements and a water-buffalo, 

 with which he plows his own and his 

 neighbor's plot, receiving in turn his 

 neighbor's help in seed-time and harvest. 



Still others, and on the rich Cheng-tu 

 plain they are numerous, are wealthy 

 farmers, who live in fine homes and till 

 their estates with the help of sons and 

 grandsons or with hired servants. 



To these farmers is given the task of 

 feeding a nation of 60.000,000 people ; 

 for Sze-chuan, isolated by mountain bar- 

 riers, must be self-sustaining. The meas- 

 ure of this task is appreciated when we 

 consider that fully 50 per cent of the 

 181,000 square miles of Sze-chuan is too 

 mountainous for cultivation, which means 

 that these sixtv millions are sustained on 



an area less than one-half that of the 

 State of Texas. 



Add to this condition his lack of scien- 

 tific knowledge and the primitive imple- 

 ments with which he labors, as well as 

 the necessity of securing and returning 

 to the soil, as fertilizers, all that he reaps 

 from it ; remember, also, that rice, his 

 chief cereal crop, is the most difficult of 

 all cereals to produce, especially in a 

 country where the hills must be terraced 

 and water lifted to fill the paddy fields, 

 and it becomes evident that the Sze-chuan 

 farmer's task is next to impossible and 

 its accomplishment little short of a mir- 

 acle. 



He is, however, favored with a tem- 

 perate climate all the year and a naturally 

 rich soil, an atmosphere saturated with 

 moisture, an abundant rainfall, and a 

 never-failing supply of water for irriga- 

 tion from the melting snows on the 

 mountains near by." 



He produces nearly every vegetable 

 and grain found in our market and others 

 to which we are strangers. The fruits 

 that are ours are his also. Apples are 

 few and poor in quality, but the persim- 

 mon and orange are second to none and 

 are produced in great abundance. One 

 thousand oranges on the upper Yangtze 

 can be purchased for 50 cents. 



He knows little of the science of gar- 

 dening, but much of its method. By inter- 

 planting, especially beans and peas, which 

 he knows improves the quality of the 

 soil ; by crop rotation, which he knows in- 

 creases his yield, and by intensive fertiliz- 

 ing and the sowing of vetch in the fallow 

 season, he manages to keep his fields rich 

 and raises from two to six crops a year. 

 He has made Sze-chuan known as the 

 Garden of Asia, the land where famine 

 never comes. 



RICE THE MASTER CROP 



The tenant farmer pays his rent with 

 the major portion of his rice, which is 

 the master crop and his chief concern 

 and joy in life. In the early spring he 

 plows his paddy fields, and then prays 

 for rains to flood them, offering: incense 

 to the god of the garden, whose shrine 

 is built near by. 



When rain and gods fail him. he sets 

 to work with endless-chain, foot-treadle 



