The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-12-09

|Hmeritalt Wbeat in China.


such mills are the roller patent ,n,ocas,
OF Hour grinding in interior China Marie
every hour store has machinery NJ itbts
KIND IN the rear. and sometimes a DOZEN
bulocks. s many
Inc only modern -four mills OF China
are at Shanghai and at Wuhu. on the
iahstsekiang. about 2i0 miles north ~
mere. Inc Shanghai mill will soon he
uo'ns a big business. 1t has been nut mn
py practical American miller with the
nnest 81 American machinery. II has all
,he latest improvements, electrical md
otherwise, and IL is, | am told as GOA
as any mill in Minneapolis. thouyb ~,
so large. II has cost about 500 ooo IL
owned by Chinese capital, and Will h
ieh with Chinese wheat The Chinese
proprietors visited the United States. car
rying two or three bushels of whoa,
along with them to see whether our ma
.nIhery would work equally well with
their grain. The amount brought was so
small that no test could be made. hut
there Is no doubt as to the success of
the undertaking.
Great Bread Haskell OF The rmr,-
one OF the big bread baskets of the
Chinese empire Is the great plain which
extends north of the Yanptse There
are hundreds of miles of this region
winch are covered with wheat The plain
from north to south is az long as from
New York to Cleveland. IT is almost as
wide as from New York to Pittsburg, and
a great part of 1t contains good wheat
soil Much of the land is too high for
irrigation. but the soil IL so rich that
IN ordinary seasons It produces good
crops.
/ had a chat the other day with Cant.
w W. Rich. the foreign adviser to
Sheng. the head of the Chinese imperial
RAILWAYS Cant Rtca has fro oL,1
most of the empire, surveying railroads
and reporting on mines and other mat
tiers for Sheng. He Is from Minneapolis
and ought to know wheat when he sees
II. Said he:
THE wheat fields OF the great Chinese
plains remind me of the bonanza farms
of the Dakotas. They extend on and on
for miles. There are no fences and no
barns-nothing but wheat! wheat! wheat,
Here and there Is clump Of trees. Each
of the tree clumps marks a Chinese VIII
lage, ranging in size from a few houses
up TO hundreds. The farmers live in the
villages and go out from them TO their
work. The land Is owned In small patches
but to the stranger 1t has no visible
boundaries.
us the country thickly populated?"
Yes" replied Mr. Rich. Much more
thickly than / supposed at first. I was
surprised at the number of people fin a
village. The families are large, and you
find eight or ten persons in one house
Nearly every village belongs to clan or
family. 1t has Its head men, who act
as their governors and who are we'll
posted on all matters connected with their
localities / talked with many of the old
men. They told me that II took all the
wheat they could raise to feed the local
population. They could not give me any
announcement as to exports. You see,
I was looking up freight for a possible
railroad. | asked them what they did
when they had big crop. They answer
ed that they stored II In public granaries
against the times of famines."
During house boat trip up the Yangtse
valley ! passed through wheat region,
not so large as that of the great plain
but big enough TO show me something of
Chinese wheat culture. The wheat Is In
small patches. 1t Is cultivated In a way
that would surprise our bonanza farmers
The grain Is first sowed In seed beds and
the stalks transplanted, plant by plant.
like rice. The stalks are set out In rows
about six inches apart, in little punches
OF five or six stalks. The crop Is kept
free from weeds il is hoed and sprinkled
with liquid manure.
In the larger wheat regions which Capt.
Rich saw the wheat is sown with rude
drills which drop three rows at time.
The crop rs hoed and scientifically cuti-
low.
Several hundred miles above here In the
Yangtse valley the farmers plant their
wheat In hills. They hoe IL regularly and
weed It. They cut II with sickle anc
fail II out on threshing floor.
They have a curious way of manuring
the wheat They feed the crop rather
than the land. The chief dry manure Is
tho droppings of cows or buffaloes. Little
girls run about through the fields and
aiong the roads and gather up this filthy
stun with their hands. They bring IT
home in baskets and there mold IL into
balls, which they throw against the walls
OF the house. As the balls strike they
natten out into great splotches about the
thickness Of a fat buckwheat cake and
stick 10 the wall. When dry they are
pulled on and piled up. ~ the time for
planting wheat approaches these manure
cakes are arranged In layers with dirt be-
tween them over the whole straw Is
spread and the pile Is set IRE TO. The
cakes smoider as thoy burn. and the
smoke is SO altered through the dirt that
a. tt,.,, ~ no fprtilixluE aNhaq