Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-12-16
AGRICULTURE IN CHINA.

Every substance derived from plants and ami
mails is carefully collected by the Chinese and
converted into manure. OIL cakes, horn and
bones are highly valued and SO is SCOT, and
more especially ashes. To give some notions
Of the value set by them on human ofal, 1t
will be sufficient to mention that the bar
bers most carefully collect and sell, as an ar
ticle IF trade, the somewhat considerable
amount of hair Of the boards and heads of
the hundreds Of millions of customers, whom
thew daily shave The Chinese know the
action of gypsum and lime and 1t often
happens that they renew the plasterlng OF
the kitchens, for the purpose OF making use
of the old matter for manure.
No Chimes. ie.t,..,,, SOws Sced or corn
oe1ore it has been soaked in liquid manure
diluted with water, and has begun 10 germi-
nate; and experience has taught him, 80 he
asserts.) that this operation not only tends
to promote the growth and development of
the plant, but also TO protect the seed from
che insects hidden in the ground.
During the summer months, all kinds of
vegetable refuse are mixed with turf, straw,
grass. peat, weeds and earth, collected into
heaps, and when quite dry set on fire; after
several days Of slow combustion the entire
mass is converted into a kind of black earth
This compost is only employed for the manu-
ring of seeds When seed time arrives, one
man makes holes in the ground; another
follows with the seed, which he places in
the holes and a third adds the black earth.
The young seed. planted in this manner,
grows with such extraordinary vigor that it
IS thereby enabled to push its rootlets
through the hard, solid soil, and 10 collect
its mineral constituents.
The Chinese farmer sows his wheat, after
the grains have been soaked in liquid man
ure, quite close, in seed beds, and afterwards
transplants it. Occasionally, also. the
soaked grains are Immediately sown IN the
field properly prepa ed for their reception,
at an interval Of four inches from each other.
The time of transplanting is towards the
month of December. In March the seed
sends up from seven to nine stalks with ears,
but the straw is shorter than with US.
have been told that wheat yields 100 fold
more, which amply repays the care and Ia
Dor bestowed upon it.
1t is quite true that what suits one people
may not on that account suit all countries
and all nations; but one great and incon-
trovertble truth may, at all events, be
learned from Chinese agriculture, viz, that
the fields of the Chinese cultivator have pre-
served their fertility unimpaired and in con-
tinued vIgor ever since the days of Abraham,
and OF the building of the first pyramid in
Egvpt~ This result, we also learn, has
been attained solely and simply by the re-
stItutiOn to the soil of the mineral constI-
tuents removed in the produce; or what
amounts to the same thing, that this as
been effected by the aid of a manure, Of
which the greater portion is lost to the land
in the system of European land American y
cultivation.-Liebig's Modern Agriculture
*Vessels of Chinese porcelain found in the
pyramids, Of the same shape, and with the same
characters of writing on them, as on modern
china at the PRESENT day.