The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-08-12
The Heather as a Tiller OF the Soil,

Notwithstanding we are accustomed to
look upon the natives of the Celestial
Empire with certain degree of super
ciliousness, as an inferior race, says the
San Francisco Chronicle, there are many
things in which they are not only our
equals but our SUI ,riors. Among these
may be mentioned agriculture, which is
the principal occupation of the great
mass of the people. Next to letters, ag-
riculture is considered in China as one of
the nOblest occupations of man; and in
order to remind the people that it is the
basis and foundation of society, the EN-
perOr himself and the Viceroys of the
provinces once year perform the cere-
mony of blowing few burrows and SOW
ing some of tie cereal grains. The
people are thus L. de to unGe stand that
the poorest ff~m er is entitled to respcc;,
since his pursuit is ennobled by the par
ticipatiOn in it of the most exalted of hui
man pOtentates known to him, and req,
ognized as one of the most necessary and
exalted employments.
1t is true that modern labor-saving
machinery and the chemistry of agricul-
ture are entirely unknown to the China
man, but it is equally true that no
nation on the earth practices agriculture
more thoroughly or successfully than the
Chinese. Their implements are very
rude, but their practical skill and indus
try are without parallel in any part of
the world. We have seen some evidence
of this in the Chinese market gardens of
California, and it is quito certain, soil and
capital being equal, that no European or
American can excel them in the perfect
cultivation of land for any purpose.
They are able to raise greater crops from
a given area than any other people
under the sun. Their system of irriga-
ton is well-nigh perfect, and far in adj
vance of anything attempted by Western
nations, and their knowledge of the use
fulness and value of manure is mani
tested in their extreme care in collecting
it from every possible source in country
where very few domestic animals are
used.
Very few neat cattle or horses are to
be found in China, as the inhabitants
make little use of beef, milk, butter or
cheese, and either carry burdens upon
bamboo poles or transport them by water
upon their innumerable canals. Hence
they are forced to gather manure from
other sources. They make use of all
fecal matter, muck. ashes, plaster, Offal,
hair (even the BARRIERS gathering and
saving the results of their tonsorial OBJ
erations and selling them to the farmers),
and whatever else experience has taught
them has power to invigorate the soil.
The density of the population is so great
that they can not afford to let their
fields lie tallow; and as they understand
little about the rotation of crops, they
are compelled to maintain the pro-
ductiveness of the soil by constant ma
nuring and irrigation. In the fertile
country between the Yellow and Yang-tse
rivers, and south of the latter, two crops
per year are raised from the same field.
Neither fences nor hedges are used, and
travellers remark that the cultivated
plain appears like vast garden, in
which the plats appear to be NEE beds
With all our Wanted knowledge, and our
best improved agricultural machinery,
they are probably as far in advance of
the skilled cultivators of Europe as the
latter are ahead of the ranchmen of the
Pacific coast.
Since, then, the Chinese are among us,
let us make the best of their presence,
and cOndescend to be taught thorough
ness of culture which has been growing
up in Asia through scores of centuries,
and which, according to their accounts,
has been practiced for twenty-three thou
sand years.