Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-11-17

FLOWING WITH WATER BUFFALO.
waiting them. To see Chinese farmers
work Is to be set back 1000 years.
They know absolutely nothing of such
modern inventions as steam plows,
patent reapers or self acting binders.
Everything is done by hand or with the
most primitive of implements, while
the farms look like miniatures. plots
of half an acre being common.
A complete Chinese farming outfit Is
so simple and rude as to appear ride
ulous. 1t consists in most cases OF
and one handle, the deepest furrow Of
which does not exceed six inches: a
harrow, a flaming mill. a pump, used
to irrigate the fields: hoes. slckles and
baskets and, most important and ex-
pensiye, the ubiquitous zebu, or water
buffalo. The whole outfit would net
be worth more than $40 or $50. All
the implements are heavy and clumsy
to an incredible degree. A Chinese
hoe weighs about 20 times as much as
one of American make, though. as
with all the other tools, no iron enters
usually into its composition.
Everything, literally. is grown in Chi
ma. In the north. where the climate IL
temperate, wheat is the principal crop.
while in the tropical or seinitropical
south the main product of the flooded
fields is rice. In northern China the
grain most cultivated besides wheat is
millet of several varieties, which is
also grown all over the empire. To emu
merate all the products of northern
China would be impossible. A few Of
them are Indian corn and tobacco.
which have been introduced within the
last two centuries; barley to slight
extent. oats, buclSwheat, sesame, sweet
potatoes. peas and beans of innumcra-
bic kinds. There are so many different
products that IL is Chinese proverb
that not even a farmer knows the
names of all of them. The Chinese
home grown tobacco Is much smoked
by natives In pipes with long stems
and very small bowls, but foreigners
consider its flavor too mild. Beans are
grown for their OIL used in cooking
and in variety of ways. and also for
food. After the oil has been expressed
the residuum is used. like our cotton
seed cake. as fertilizer. The science of
fertilizing is well understood by the
economical Chinese, and the odor of
the various substances used is never
absent and fingers an unfragrant men,
DRY in the nostrils of the traveller. Ro-
tation of crops is practiced throughout
China, it's economic value having
proved itself
Southern China produces very many
kinds of fruit and vegetables besides
the staples, rice, cotton, sugar, wheat.
tea and tobacco. They raise everything
that will grow in their remarkably
fertile soil. Many things grown and
eaten in China and regarded as staples
there are curiosities and objects OF
aversion to foreigners. Water chest
nuts, which are eaten raw; the bulbs
of water lilies, fungi, grown on the
buried rotten stumps of trees; bam-
boo sprouts, peach and apricot stones,
are only few of them.
The rigid economy practiced in China
IL inconceivable to a foreigner. Abso-
lutely nothing that could by any posi-
bility be turned to use is wasted, and
every inch of ground is cultivated. Fo'
example, the principal fuel Of agricul-
tural China is not wood or charcoal
which are too expensive, but the stalks
of the various kinds of grain. Every
mile of the Chinese highways is GOV.
cred by manure gatherers with baskets.
who earn their living n this uncertain
way. The common beast of burden, es-
pecialiy in the south. is the water buff
faio, but IL. owing to his cost. he Is alb
sent. the wife and children of the Chi
nese farmer draw the plow The vast
majority Of people in China are de-
pendent on agriculture for their liveli-
hood. and they are very poor. 1t may
we'll be doubted that so large proper.
ton of restitution is TO be met with
anywhere else ON earth. As has been
said. farms Of half an acre are com
mon, while holdings as large as three
acres indicate comparative degree of
opulence. The very rivers in China
are covered over with RATS and house
boats. and people pass their entire lives
on them without going ashore,
Irrigation Is common in the Celestial
empire. and for this purpose the water
OF numerous canals and wells Is used.
The methods of conveying the water
whittier 1t is needed are crude and an
eieni There are various ways, the
Uafar whaaf and tho chain n.-rnr ho{r10