230 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XIV. 
circumstances in which they are placed — at least in so 
far as agriculture in concerned — will convince us that 
their practice is regulated, not so much by caprice and 
those " Mede and Persian " laws, as by the laws of 
nature herself, upon which the success of the varied 
operations of agriculture mainly depends. Thus the 
crops of rice and cotton are sown on the low. lands, and 
the sweet potatoes are planted on the hills, year after 
year, exactly at the same time. But this regularity is not 
the effect of prejudice, nor in obedience to the imperial 
orders : it is simply the result of experience, which has 
taught the farmer that this is the proper time for these 
operations, because there will then be a continuance of 
frequent and copious showers, which will moisten the 
earth and the air until such time as the young rootlets 
have laid hold of the soil and are capable of sending up 
sufficient nourishment to the stems. 
During the growth of the rice, the fields are always 
kept flooded when water can be obtained. The terraces 
near the base of the hills are supplied by the mountain - 
streams, and the fields which are above the level of any 
adjoining river or canal are flooded by the celebrated 
water-wheel, which is in use all over the country. These 
machines are of three kinds. The principle in all of 
them is the same, the only difference being in the mode 
of applying the moving power ; one is worked by the 
hand, another by the feet, and the third by an animal 
of some kind, generally a buffalo or bullock. The rice- 
lands are kept flooded in this way until the crops are 
nearly ripe, when the water is no longer necessary. It 
is also necessary, or at least advantageous, to go over 
