The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1894-08-03

y OuluhlhugS SuluttJ 10 dOub ny
irrigation, and the water rights of the
Chinese are ns full of complications as
are those of Colorado. Still there
are few troubles among the farmers,
and with no fences to mark the lines
of their property they work away in
peace and quiet generation after gen.
GRAFTON. 1t is wonderful how they
work and how much they get off
the land. Three crops year is by
no means uncommon, and if any fail
ure of q crop is seen, the seed for an
other is straightway sown. 1t isw
derful how small the farms are. There
are thousands of holding in China
which are less than an acre, and some
are even as small as the tenth of an
acre. It is estimated that an acre of
land will in the better parts of the En-
pire support family of six, and a
volume could be written on Chinese
agriculture. The use of fertilizers is
universal and, though there are prac-
tically no horses and few cattle, there
is no land which is so we'll fed. Every
thing is saved Thousands of men do
nothing else but gather up bits of
fertilizing matter and sell them. The
refuse OF rich family will bring more
than that of a poor one, and the slops
of the foreign part of Shanghai are
farmed out annually for sum which
gives the city most of its educational
fund. Potato Feelings, the parings of
finger nails, the shavings of the head
and ruined houses form parts of the
fertilizing material, and this is usual
Iy put together in such liquid form
that not bit of it is wasted. The
manure is kept in great watts, and the
farm is watered like garden. Each
plat gets its daily food and drink. A
dipperful from the vat rs put into
bucket of water and the mixture is
poured in at the roots Of the plants.
All throughout this part of China such
fertilization goes on, and from twenty
to thirty dollars year is sometimes
spent upon an acre of land.
The tools used are crude in the ex-
treme. I see men working in the
fields near here with long handled
hoes. These have four teeth of the
same length as those of pitchfork
and each tooth or tine is about an
inch in width. They also use grub
bling hoes or mattocks, and they have
q sort of spade with crosspiece of
wood two inches above where the iron
plate of the spade begins.
They push the spade down into the
ground by pressing the bare foot
against this crossbar instead of on
the iron itself, as we do: Their plows
scratch the earth, and are not much
better than those used in Egypt.
These are pulled by water buffaloes,
the ugliest cattle known to man. The
bufaloes grind the rice, tramp the mud
and straw for making the sun dried
bricks of which their houses are made
and do all sorts of farm work. When
grazing and when not at work they
are minded by the little children, who
sit upon their backs, and who have q
wonderful control over them. They
crawl up on the back of the buffalo,
getting first upon the horns of the
animal, who bends down its head for
them. As soon as they are ,astride of
the neck the buffalo will gently raise
its head and the boy will slide down
its neck till he has firm seat just
behind its shoulders. Here he will
stay all day, and 1 have seen little
fellows of five or six years sound
asleep upon the backs of these ami
mails, who are often dangerous and
ugly in their actions toward strangers.
A good buffalo is worth about $40,
and farmers often enter a sort of
farmers loan association for the use
of a common fund of money from
year to year by which they stock their
farms.
l have seen some COWS, but their
milk is not used as food. The China
man does not think milk fit to drink,
and he only uses it as medicine. The
mutton of this part of China is very
fine, and its flavor is said to be much
improved by feeding the sheep on
mulberry leaves. The hogs are of the
lubberly black Chinese variety, the
dirtiest and flthiest animals of their
kind. They are always minded by a
girl or boy when in the fields, and
saw to-day little girl of ten, whose
feet were bandagel so that she seemed
to be walking on redhot irons as she
tottered about whipping the hogs.
The pigs often sleep in the houses, and
you find them granting around in the
busiest of the Chinese cities. There
are lots of chickens, ducks and geese
everywhere, and the scientific raising
of poultry by the Chinese would make
letter in itself. They are sold by