50 State of Chinese Horticulture and Agriculture. 



rations ; Potatoes and Cabbages have been cultivated in the 

 neighbourhood of Macao for upwards of half a century, and, 

 although highly profitable and productive, yet the method 

 of growing them has not reached Canton, perhaps has not 

 even extended five miles. 



At Macao the same grounds which were Rice fields in the 

 summer are very commonly converted into kitchen gardens 

 in winter. Potatoes are planted in the fields after they have 

 yielded the first crop of Rice. It is therefore impossible to 

 establish any distinction between the Agriculture and Horti- 

 culture of the Chinese, merely from the place of cultivation. 

 Enclosures are seldom seen, and are perhaps never made 

 solely with a view to any particular branch of husbandry. 

 A correct idea therefore of Chinese garden cultivation will 

 be best obtained by a brief description of their agricultural 

 process. 



The Chinese plough is exceedingly simple, and appears to 

 be the same as that employed all over the East : it is drawn 

 by a single buffalo, ox, or cow ; horses are never employed. 

 The plough being without a coulter, nothing like a regular 

 tillage is ever attempted. The principal object appears to 

 be, in the first instance, to expose the soil as extensively as 

 possible ; and this is best effected by throwing it up in large 

 masses, in which state it is allowed to remain till it is finally 

 prepared for planting. When sufficient rain has fallen to 

 allow the husbandman to flood his fields, they are laid under 

 water, in which state they are commonly ploughed again, in 

 the same manner as for fallow, and then a rake, or rather a 

 sort of harrow, about three feet deep and four feet wide, with 

 a single row of teeth, is drawn, by the same animal that 



