AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. ^ 



America, is capable of affording, though dry and dead, due suste- 

 nance for animals throughout the winter, I mean of course uncut 

 grass, hay being unknown in China, where the agriculturist has 

 no instrument for cutting grass other than a sickle the arc of 

 which is about eight inches in length. On this subject I speak 

 with certainty, as the mules and ponies we used and met with on 

 the road, as a rule, had no other food than the dry grass they ate 

 after their day's journey was finished, although carrying heavy 

 burdens up and down hills for many days consecutively. More- 

 over, the country is well supplied with water, while, the hills having 

 a dry porous soil, sheep would probably not be liable to disease." 

 These remarks are as true now as on the day they were written, 

 and it is difficult to understand why the Chinese people do not 

 practise stock raising far more extensively than is the case at present. 

 The mules and ponies which are so largely used for transportation 

 in Yunnan are reared principally in the north-western parts of the 

 province. There is a large annual fair held at Ta-li Fu when numbers 

 of animals change hands. The price of a good mule for caravan 

 work varies a great deal from year to year, but as the demand 

 is always active low prices are never prevalent, I do not care to 

 make an estimate of the number of mules and ponies in Yunnan, 

 which must be very large. In 1909, 65,409 pack animals with 

 loads passed through the Custom's barrier in Teng-yueh, 20,201 

 through Ssu-mao, and 69,974 through Meng-tzu. Before the 

 opening of the French railway, the number of pack animals which 

 passed through Meng-tzii was much greater, for example, in 1906 

 it was 295,300. At the same time, the figures may be misleading, 

 as the returns do not state if these are individual animals or if the 

 same caravans were not numbered over and over again, which is 

 more likely to be the case. Caravans of Chinese mules travel 

 great distances in the winter season and are to be found through- 

 out the frontier districts of Burma, Northern Siam and even as 

 far south as Tavoy. 



Cows and buffaloes are to be found in every Yunnanese village. 

 The cows are sometimes used in light ploughs, though the buffalo 

 does most of this work. Bullocks are often used for transporta- 

 tion, especially by the Khans; and if time is no object, tiiey 

 seem to be a fairly efficient means, though they must be driven 

 in the early morning and evening to avoid the heat of the day. 

 The Chinese proper rarely make use of milk and do not slaughter 



