River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-09-10

And send hearty greeting forth
For him and his descendants.
Martha CaCerao COOK IN Hatper's Young
Folks.
Methods ofAgricuture in the East.
The methods of agriculture pursued
in China and the tools used are of the
rudest and most primitive form. Even
an apology for shovel is seldom to be
met with, while the hoe is of a long,
narrow, heavy blade, and is used for
almost all purposes. 1t takes the place
of a shovel when soil is to be moved, as
it is carried in shallow baskets depend
ing from yoke on the cooly's shout
ders, and the hoe is used to scrape the
earth into the baskets. After plough
ing, and often without it, the earth is
dug up and prepared for the seed by
the hoe, and the growing plants are
cultivated by its aid. The plough is a
rough and clumsy affair, with only one
''stilt, " and only the point shod with
iron. 1t loosens the soil, but turns a
very slight furrow, from its narrowness.
The harrow is more like the well-known
form at home, and the rake, when used
at ALL is formed of curved and split
bamboo, but is frail and of little value.
Farm carts or wagons are infrequent,
very clumsy, solid wooden wheels, and
rudely fashioned Thrashing is per-
formed as in the time of Moses, by
spreading the sheaves on an earthen
thrashing-hoor and driving unlIuzzled
cattle over the grain to tread it out.
Winnowing is done on the same floor
by pouring the grain from uplifted bas-
ketS for the wind to drive away the
chaff, with sometimes a huge fan
welded by an assistant cody. Some
times the grain is ground between mill
stones, the under one stationary and
the upper turned by bullock that
travels in circle. Sometimes two
women grind at mill as in the time OF
Herod of Galilee. Quite often still
ruder process is observed. A stone
coping is firmly set in continuous
circle about a space of ground 10 or 20
feet in diameter The coping has an
unbroken groove cut in its upper sur
face V-shaped, and a circular stone,
feet in diameter, has its periphery hewn
to fit it in the groove. which is five
inches or more in depth. Into this
groove the grain is placed and the
stone wheel revolves over it, its centre
fixed to pivot on the outer extremity
of beam, whose inner end is attached
to pivot in the centre of an inclosed
space. A bullock hitched to a beam
reyolves the grinding stone, and in
time the grain is crushed to powder.
Nearly all burdens are borne on men 5
shoulders, and thus crops are gathered
and transferred. Labor is so cheap
and cultivation so subdivided that often
every plant has special culture, and
daily irrigation with liquid manure is
applied, especially with all food vege-
tables.
The soil of the Island of Java is pro-
ductive to a degree, the crudest imple-
ment serving the native. The plough
is crooked or bent stick, drawn by
buffalOes, and merely scratches the top
of the earth; the spade is never used,
unless here and there on an estate I'M
der European management, and the
hoe, an instrument in universal use,
is great, unwieldy. heavy, and ''im-
possible thing, at least twice the
weight of our own. The primitiveness
in implements for use in cultivating
land, and tools usually employed by
hus bandmen. is universal; a simple
Ratchet, for instance, is rarely seen in
the hands of a native; an AK is also a
rara avis, though both these tools are
prOcurable. 1t will be understood, of
course, that the mode of cultivation
amongst the natives is as simple as
their implements; the soil is so rich
and nature so bountiful in this favored
island that it takes but little labor to
produce a good result, given that in
sects, disease, want of or too much rain
does not interfere.
Owing to the paucity ofpopulation of
Asia Minor, when compared with the
extent of arabic territory, and to the
fact that except for gardens, cotton and
tobacco fields, fertilizing substances
are not used, the land is allowed to re
main fallow every third year. Thus a
field which is sown with summer crop,
such as Indian corn, millet, sesame,
beans, vetch, etc, is sown again the
following autumn with wheat, barley,
or horse beans, etc. these being the win
ter crops; the third year it is not plant
ed.
The agricultural implements in gen
eral use are of the most primitive style
and make. Oxen are used for plough
ing and threshing purposes. The yoke
is a long straight stick, usually fastened
to the horns. The plough is simply a
triangular block of hard wood, with an
iron cap on the point, one pole in front,
to which the oxen are fastened, and one
behind to guide it. The other nipple
ments are the harrow, rake, sickle,
spade, pickaxe, shovel, pitchfork, sieve
winnsw, and clumsy low-wheeled bull
lock cart, all of which the least pro-
oressive of our American farmers
would scorn to use. The ploughing is
between each furrow of twelve inches
or more Irrigation is confined to
vegetable gardens, although there is
seldom any rainfall from May to De-
tober. With such methods of cultiva-
ton, barley and wheat yield about
twelve-fold, beans from twenty to TWEEN
ty-five, millet and maize from twenty
five to thirty five. The threshing of CO.
reals is performed by horses and bull
locks: beans and sesame by fail or
stick. The straw, after threshing, is
cut up and used as fodder for cattle.
Of the smaller articles above enumer-
ated, the pitchfork is Of wood, a mere
crotched stick; pickaxes, hoes, spades,
and scythes are made here partly Of
iron, and very clumsy; shovels, of gal
yanized iron, are imported from France.
To induce the peasants to adopt more
modern hand-tools is not so easy as the
introduction of labor-saying machine
~. but it may be done in time and by
persevering effort through the large
proprietors.
The Remoya of Fences.
A Maine farmer is reported as putting
the case strongly in favor of the abolition
fences: IF had my way ! wouldn' t