The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-08-01
Farm Life In China.

Vlclnlty OF CITY Drln88 foUV au acle,
reduces agricultural economy to mini
mum, as the following extract from the
above article will show:
"In this Swatow region probably nine
tenths of the men are engaged in agri.
culture. The farmers who live in vii
lagos, isolated dwellings being uncon.
mon. The villages are walled, contain
no wasted space, and are densely peo.
pied. The wide spreading, fat fields,
lying along the river banks at tiac foot Of
the hills, may be made to yield here or
the Tropic of Cancer constant series of
crops without interval on account of
winter. Their chief productions are rice,
sugar cane, sweet potatoes, pulse, garden
vegetables, peanuts, indigo, sesamum,
ginger, the grass. cloth plant, tobacco and
wheat. Rice is the staple food Of the
people, and in the best years the local
product just supplies the local demand.
Sugar is the principal export. The cane
requires less labor than any other crop,
and will grow upon unwatered land,
which is unsuitable for rice culture.
One crop of cane or two crops Of other
produce may be grown in the same year
upon unwatered land. On the best rice
fields three crops are sometimes raised.
The early rice is aowed in April and har-!
vested in July; the late rice is sowed in
August and harvested in November, and
the field is then sometimes planted with!
garden vegetables, which are pulled in
March. The expense of fertilizing the
third crop is so nearly equal to its value
that it is never reckoned as 8 source of
profit to the cultivator.
"The whole country belongs theoreti-
cally to its sovereign, and upon all land
that can be titled with profit tax is paid
into the imperial treasury. The sum
due annually to the government for the
use of land is fixed for each field, amounts
to from sixty cents to two dollars, and
averages dollar aud half upon each
English acre.
"When father dies his land is diVid-
ed equally among his sons, the eldest
receiving an additional tenth on account
Of the extra expense to which he is put
in worshipping the names of the ances-
tor. The land is distributed very gener-
ally. though unequally, among the peo.
pie, and is usually titled by its peasant
proprietor. Few own so much ss two
hundred acres; one who owns ten acres
is reckoned wealthy, and he who Owls
one acre possesses competence. Those
who own from one.tenth to one-balf an
acre are most numerous, and therefore
there are many who till land for share
Of the produce.
Gland that is too sterile for profitable
cultivation or for taxation sells for from
six to sixty dollars an acre, while good
farm land is valued at from three hun:
dred to eight hundred dollars an acre.
Rice fields not in the vicinage of q city
sell readily for six hundred dollars an
acre, and not always to be bought at that
price, becausAt those who own land find
it the safest investment, and part with it
only when under the stress of debt. The
bursting of dykes, drouth, and bad habits
are the chief causes of the transfer of
land, and the sale of child often pre-
cedes that of the rice field. Interest on
money lent is from twelve to twenty per
cent, according to agreement between
lender and borrower.
"The chief expense of tillage is fertil.
izea beans and sesamum seeds from
which the oil has been expressed, being
commonly used, at an outlay Of from Blk
to forty and an average of twenty-four
dollars upon every acrs of land. Besides
this, potato peelings, hair from shaven
heads and all other vegetable and ami
NAL refuse, is carefully husbanded and
methodically applied to the soil. The.
clods of the field are laid up into little
ovens to retain and be enriched by the
smoke of the stubble burned underneath
them. Adobe houses whose walls have
for many years absorbed the fumes Of a
kitchen and the exhalations of human
inmates, are pulverized and added to the
ever hungry earth. Each growing plant
separately receives distinguished consid.
Grafton, scrap of tobacco stalk being
sometimes put beside It's root to destroy
underground grubs, while its leaves are
frequently examined and seduously feed
from vermin. The rotation of crops is
always practiced.
Gas no milk, butter, or cheese is used,
the only quadruped seen on the farms is
the water buffalo, or the zebu, which
assists in plowing and narrowing, Many
farmers rear ducks, which are taken to
the fields to devour the snails, crabs and
young frogs which thrive there at plant.
ing time. Fowls often accompany the
harvesters, picking up the last grains
left among the stubble.
"Few families are without the ubiqui-
tous black hog, whose usual habitat is at
the door step. It's food is the bran OF the
rice hulled and eaten in the honse; its
head is the chief offering set before the
lares and penates, and its flesh is most
esteemed among festive viands. It's
reared at small expense, makes no dispu'
ted demand on space, furnishes the unc'
tuous element in satisfying bill of fare,
and csn always be sold at ten cents a
pound"
"The farming appliances ere simple,
and complete outfit can be bought for
forty dollars. A pillow with two shares, .
pair of harrows and a tanning mill each
cost two dollars; a pump worked by
treadles in irrigating the fields, four dol.
lars; water buffalo, twenty dollars !;