The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-20
AGRICULTURE IN CHINA.
CONSUL AT TIENTsIN FILES AN
INSTRUCTIVE REPORT.
wheat an Important Crop Many
other Grains Produced-Farming
Methods WsstefuI and Imperfect
-Gardeninw Well Understood.


ern China is contained in a report trans
mitted to the state department recently by
James W. Ragsdalc, consul at Tientsin.
The paper is contained in advance sheets
of consular reports soon to be published,
and II as follows:
China are Chihn and Shantung. The
Separated By a Ssnse Of 4 mountains from
Chill, and the climate = in some respects pee
larity between the regions specially mem
toned and the remainder Of the northern
part Of the empire. The country has an
BILE of producing good crops when there
Is an adequate rainfall, which. however,
not infrequently falls: At such times
such as took place. In the years 1S77-7S.
when millions persisted.
Perhaps the most important crop Is
with but slight light de rsnc o IN manner q
cultivation, due to- local climate In few
districts spring wheat Is grown: but as
s ser the oer crops have benz
housed. and as soon as there is q good fall
Of rain. The wheat is put in with drill,
as are almost all other crops
1.-THE Chinese are very expert In the use
Of manure, which they dry in the spring
and .pulverixe; and 1t IL always for sale
at the river markets at a price varying
to the fields in cars and Is poured into the
seed drill with the seed. SO as to make a
little go great way. The practice Of
drilling everything Is sometimes a waste
full one, as there IL almost always, with
their imperfect machines, a much larger
quantity OF seed put In the ground than
can live In the limited space intended for
It, and much OF It has to be pulled up later
by hand. II the wheat gets a good start
in the autumn. 1t looks we'll all winter.
Is much SS helped as by the nsh ns nS ss
occur at intervals through the winter.
Much Of the land is made to yield two
full crops year, and after the wheat has
been gathered, In June. the land may be
planted In beans or sweet potatoes. maize.
nized as the better plan to let the. ground
when wheat may be put In again, as the
increased yield compensates for the loss
of the extra crop
ciple OF rotation of crops, and for the most
part are governed by 1t, with some con-
spicuous exceptions. But 1t IL a general
lily of the seed planted, and though they
realize that the middle Of the ear yields
better seed than the eads, they pay no
ing considered a fine economy. to sell the
round. full grain and to keep the withered
and imperfect ones for planting.
Primitive Harvesting Methods.
THE. wheat usually ripens about the
beginning OF June when the stalk is eth
with small sickle not more than four
inches in Lengthy very near the root.
THE Chinese threshing floor is the CEN
ter of incessant activity after the wheat
harvest begins. The ground has been pre-
viously prepared by wetting and rolling
with heavy stone rollers over straw, by
which means It Is made at once hard and
smooth. The wheat Is threshed out by the
passage of stone roller over 1t. and the
winnowing Is generally done. not by mill
although the Chinese have such an imple-
without SCrppn-hIf fhrnvinp q
grain and char into the air with shovcls,
by which crude process most of the chaff
to satisfy the Chinese demands.
1T is very difficult to ascertain the prod
uct Of any Chinese crop per acre, or mou.'
All IN Ghna hs IKE all weghS
you that his land yielded so many pecks,
but it may be incidentally learned that
the peck of that region is but third as
large as the one used In another district
near by. Acres, bushels. pecks, pounds,
etc., have no fixed value; so that COMPARE
sons are difficult. The Yield of wheat may
bag may hold is wholly uncertain, as
they are made of all Sizes to contain from
100 catties up to perhaps 15O. The catty, or
one and third pounds avoirdupois, but
this is a merely ideal relation, hardly ever
realized, For these reasons. all statistics
as to the productlveness Of Chinese land
are to be taken with considerable allow
anee; - =. -. "a; 3; =,
THE great mass OF the Village popula-
ton do not use white -four as an article of
the wheat harvest itself, and during the
New Years holidays, there is marked
exception to this rule.
MiIlet an Important Crop.
Next to wheat, probably the most i'm
portant food crop Is miIlet of which an
enormous quantity Is grown everywhere.
White rice does not grow in Northern
China. 1t is found in Tientsin and Picking,
let is planted as early in the spring as the
rains will allow 1t is drilled into the
ground worked by blowing between the
rows while it is small, and later by hoe
1.-THE Chinese hoe is clumsy imple-
ment. II has surface more than six
beneath. without to any extent removing
1t. The plow is always small, with but
one handle, the moldboard having a very
designed for surface work only. The plows
are frequently drawn by men and women.
No Chinaman has the smallest conception
would be Mortified at the idea Of turning
all the valuable surface underneath, The
harrow is not unlike the kind we used
has a brush drag for convenience. He
depends upon the winter frosts, however,
to do most OF the work of pulverizing the
lumpy soil. and in the spring it is always
the fall into shape for planting
I'm Chihli province the land tax (Which
paid in money: but in shantung. as in
the central provinces. 1t Is paid in grain,
which is required to be delivered at some
convenient spot. measured and shipped
on small river boats to Picking. In Shan
tung. millet is used for the payment of
the land tax.
what is called tall miIlet' bears no
relation whatever to the grain last men,
toned. 1t is very similar to the sorghum,
or sugar cane, so extensively grown at
one time in the Middle and Western
states. 1t is planted about the same
time and under the same general condi-
tons as millet; but it grows to. from ten
to fifteen feet In height. and when 1t be-
gins to attain its growth 1t everywhere
hides the horizon, so as to make 1t diff
cult to find ones way about, there be-
ing not even fence to show the boun-
DIARIES between farms. 1t thus becomes
a convenient refuge for thieves and out
laws, who can readily hide in its endless
recesses and defy pursuit. The natives
call 1t 'collian.'
Sorghum Serves for Timber.
'In this plant nature has furnished one