209 
VALUE OF PEAT ASHES 
deposits of cotton, and bearing it home to the hou¬ 
ses, evidently aware that they, too, are working for 
the general good. 
However fine the crop may be, the Chinese are 
never sure of it until it is actually gathered in. 
Much depends upon a dry autumn ; for, if the 
weather is wet after the pods begin to burst, they 
drop amongst the muddy soil, and are consequently 
much injured, if not completely destroyed. When 
the cotton reaches the farmyard, it is daily spread 
out on hurdles raised about four feet from the 
ground, and fully exposed to the sun. As the 
object is to get rid of all the moisture, it is of 
course only put out in fine weather, and is always 
taken into the house, or barn, in the evening. When 
perfectly dry, the process of separating it from the 
seeds commences. This is done by the well-known 
wheel with two rollers, which, when turned round, 
draws or sucks in the cotton, and rejects the seeds. 
It is a simple and beautiful contrivance, and an¬ 
swers well the end for which it is designed. The 
cotton is now sent to market, and a portion of the 
seeds are reserved for the next year’s crop. 
Early in the fine autumnal mornings, the roads 
leading into Shanghae are crowded with bands of 
coolies from the cotton farms, each with his bam¬ 
boo across his shoulders and a large sack of cotton 
slung on each end. With these, they hurry into 
the town, for the purpose of disposing of them to 
the merchants, who have numerous warehouses 
from which they send the cotton to the other pro¬ 
vinces of the empire. These coolies, or small far¬ 
mers (for many of them bring their own produce to 
market themselves), are very independent in their 
dealings.' Having reached the first warehouse, the 
cotton is exposed to the view of the merchant, who 
is asked what price he intends to give for that par¬ 
ticular quality; and should the sum offered be be¬ 
low the owner’s expectations, he immediately 
shoulders his load and walks away to another mer¬ 
chant. At this season, it is almost impossible to 
get along the streets near the sides of the river 
where the cotton warehouses are, owing to the 
large quantities of this commodity which are daily 
brought in from the country. It is bought up by 
the large cotton merchants, who empty it out in 
their warehouses, and then repack it in a neat com¬ 
pact manner, before it is conveyed on board the 
junks. 
Before the cotton is converted into thread for 
the purpose of weaving, it is cleaned and freed from 
knots by the well-known process common in India. 
This is done by an elastic bow, the string of which 
being passed under a portion of the cotton, placed 
on a table, throws it into the air by the vibration 
which is kept up by the workman, and separates 
the fibre without at all breaking or injuring it. At 
the same time, the wind, caused by the sudden vi¬ 
brations, carries off the dust and, other impurities. 
After this process, the Chinese cotton is particularly 
pure and soft, and is considered by good judges not 
tp be surpassed by any in the world. It is much 
superior to that imported into China from Hindos- 
tan, and always commands a higher price in the Chi¬ 
nese market. 
Every small farmer, or cottager, reserves a portion 
of the produce of his fields for the wants of his own 
family. This, the female members clean, spin, and 
AS A MANURE, ETC. 
weave at home. In every cottage throughout this 
district the traveller meets with the spinning wh T 
and the small hand loom, which used to be comr 
in our own country in days of yore, but which h 
now given way to machinery. These looms 
plied by the wives and daughters, who are .some¬ 
times assisted by the old men, or young boys, who 
are unfit for the labors of the field. Where the 
families are numerous and industrious, a much 
greater quantity of cloth is woven than is required 
for their own wants, and in this case the surplus 
is taken to Shanghae and the adjacent towns for 
sale. 
When the last crops are gathered from the cotton 
fields, the stalks are carried home for fuel. Thus 
every part of the crop is turned to account; the 
cotton itself clothes them, and affords them the 
means,of supplying themselves with all the neces¬ 
saries of life ; the stalks boil their frugal meals ; and 
the ashes even (the remains of all), are strewed 
over their fields for the purposes of manure. But 
even before this takes place, the system I have 
already noticed, of sowing and planting fresh 
crops before the removal of those which occupy the 
land, is already in progress. Clover, beans, and 
other vegetables are frequently above ground in 
the cotton fields before the stalks of the latter are 
removed. Thus, the Chinese, in the northern pro¬ 
vinces, lengthen by every means, in their power, 
the period of growth, and gain as much as they 
possibly can from the fertility of their land. The 
reader must bear in mind, however, that the 
soil of this district is a rich, deep loam, which is 
capable of yielding many crops in succession with¬ 
out the aid of a particle of manure. Nature has 
showered her bounties on the inhabitants of this 
part of the Chinese empire with no sparing hand j 
the soil is not only the most fertile in China, but the 
climate is capable of rearing and bringing to perfec¬ 
tion many of the productions of the tropics, as well 
as the -whole of those found in all the temperate 
regions of the globe. 
- —* - m 
Value of Peat Ashes as a Manure.— Peat 
ashes, or those made of common turf, or sod, are of 
much greater value than is generally supposed • 
though the common practice of allowing the peat 
to burn until it becomes a heap of white or reddish 
ashes, is both wasteful and erroneous. The fir© 
should be carefully attended to by starting it first 
with a few dry sticks, weeds, or straw, and then 
adding fresh dried peat, or sod, so that the heap is 
only slightly charred, which completely decom¬ 
poses the acids present, and the whole will be con¬ 
verted into a most useful manure. 
Utility of Wasps and Hornets. —Reaumer 
states that the French butchers are glad to have 
wasps about their stalls for the purpose of driving 
away the blow flies. In our own country, both 
wasps and hornets do great service in destroying 
vast numbers of tormenting flies and moths. 
A New Fertilizing Compound for Grass 
Lands. —Muriate of ammonia and common salt, 
mixed in equal proportions, and applied at the rate 
of 400 or 500 lbs. per acre, have produced the best 
results. 
