290 CHINESE AGRICULTURE. ([Cuar. XVI. 
CHAP. XVI. 
CHINESE AGRICULTURE —EXAGGERATED STATEMENTS REGARDING 
ITS ADVANCEMENT. — SOIL OF THE HILLS, — TEA LAND. — 
OF THE PLAINS. — SUMMER CROPS.—RICE AND ITS CULTI- 
AR 
HARVEST. — TERRACE CULTIVATION raccpicnnetiie TEIN- 
CHING PLANT, FROM WHICH THE NORTHERN INDIGO IS OB- 
TAINED. — SUMMER HILL CROPS. — Sconces OF SWEET 
POTATOES. —EARTH NUTS.— WINTER CROPS. — CELEBRATED 
SHAN-TUNG CABBAGE. — OIL PLANT. — WHEAT, BARLEY, ETC. — 
G OF WINTER CROPS.—MANURES—TWO PLANTS CUL- 
TIVATED FOR THIS PURPOSE — THEIR CULTIVATION AND MODE 
OF APPLICATION. —A MANURE FOR MIXING WITH SEEDS — ITS 
UTILITY. —OTHER MANURES IN COMMON USE. — MANURE TANKS. 
— NIGHT SOIL AND URINE—MODE OF APPLICATION.—S8UC- 
CESSION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 
Tue profession of agriculture in China has been 
highly honoured and encouraged by the govern- 
ment of the country, from the earliest times down 
to the presentday. The husbandman ranks higher 
here than he does in any other country in the 
world, and the emperor himself marks his sense of 
the importance of agriculture, by engaging in its 
operations at the commencement of every season. 
In his character of ‘Son of Heaven,” or mediator 
between the gods and his subjects, he devotes three 
days to solemn fasting and prayer, after which he 
