The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1915-06-17
LETTER FROM CHINA.
John Il. ReiSner Tells Of Country Life
in "The FlOwery Kingdom" Brush
Used for fneI.

and Mrs. Jacob g. Reisner, John
H. Reisner gives an interesting
account of a recent trip up the
Yang-tse river in China, along
with a party who went into the
interior to study forestry condi-
tions with a view to getting at
the root of some of the evils pre-
vailing in that section. The par
ty Travelled in two boats-one a
launch owned and furnished by
the governor of the province from
which they started, and the 9TH
er small gunboat carrying a
small number of native soldiers
to guard against anything like
robbery, &c.
1t will be remembered by many
of our readers that Mr.. and Mrs.
John H. Reisner went to China,
last fall to teach in the Univer-
sity of Marking. Each had pre-
pared for work along special lines
In addition to graduating at Yale
Mr.. Reisner took complete cour-
ses at Cornell and elsewhere in
scientific agriculture, and as soon
as he requires sufficient mastry
of the Chinese language to work
along that line, he will devote
his time in the Department of
Agriculture in that institution.
He will, during the coming win
ter, write an elementary agricul-
tural text book for that college.
During most of the way up the
river, Mr.. Reisner and the for
eign members of the party trav-
eled on the gunboat. His state
room was a cabin 81 x 5! feet,
half the space being taken up by
a bedstead with wooden springs.
He had to furnish his own bed
ding, towel, soap, wash basin,
etc. The arrangement was to
travel by river between the noun
tain ranges and then go ashore to
make observations. At all stops
they were met by river police
who acted as guides, and the SOL
diers accompanied the party up
over the hills and into the noun
tains. He said it was good to
get back into mountain regions
again. The poor natives proved
to be reasonably civil, and the
soldier protection would hardly
have been needed. AS stated,
the study of possible re-foresta-
ton of the denuded hills was the
chief object of the trip. Near
larger towns, they found no large
trees except in the groves pre-
served about the sacred temples
of which there are many in Chi
ma. Even the brush is cut by
poor people who carry it on their
backs to the towns and barter it
for rice. To some of them, this
is their only way of making a
living. This, coupled with the
fact that ownership of land is al
ways in dispute, makes it a hard
matter for even the government
authorities to set about re-fores-
tation; for as soon as some i'm
provements are made on a tract
of land, some claimant bobs up,
and-well-the you are.
Farther on during the trip up
the river, they saw some fairly
we'll cultivated fields of grain,
and, in one or two instances they
found some good beginnings at
under the protec-
ton of local police. The need of
trees is great, and Mr.. Reisner
says that he saw abundant evil
dence that the barren hills could
soon be clothed with timber if al
lowed to grow. His description
of farm life, as he saw it, is
about as follows: The house-or
sometimes several of them on a
"farm"-are always built of mud
straw, and bamboo grass. They
are occupied by the farmer and
his family, and by his sons and
their families, and by the pigs
and their families. Each farm
has few buffalo and some goats
and nearly always some pigs.
The pigs are the privileged men,
bers of the live stock, and they
may be found as frequently in