The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-14
SPRING FESTIVAL ! IN CHINA SOON TO
 BE AMERICANIZED
Ancient Customs Will Be Dropped for New World Progressive Ideas.

 the minister of agriculture and com merce For years MT. Chou has been deeply interested in afforestation, and in the furtherance of his plans he has created Chinese Arbor Day, when all farmers art especially urg- cd to plant and cultivate trees in honor of their ancestors.
 The day selected is a festival which the Chinese have celebrated for over 26oo years It is called the Spring Festival. This year it fell on April 6, but the date changes yearly, as the occasion is fixed by the lunar calendar.
 Formerly it has been the practice l of Chinese to observe this day by I burning paper boats, paper horses and carts which are supposed to as 1 sist their ancestors in escaping evil l spirits. Its celebration has been gen eral in rural communities, but citiess have not been constant in observing this and other festivals designed to | do honor to ancestors.
 |. MT. Chou hopes to have the old Chinese festival perpetuated in
 more practical way, and his plan is to
 combine the new idea borrowed from America with the ancient feast is i typical or the present governments
 plan to build new China on the best of the old traditions and not
 make an effort to uproot entirely customs which have endured for 1 many centuries. t-. The Spring Festival is somewhat legendary in it's origin, but is sup posed to date back to 654 B. c. Prince Tsin had 8 devoted supporter, Kiai Che-Tui who followed the prince into exile in Northern China and lived withs him there for 8 years. When Prince -Tsir was able to leave exile and again gained the favor Of the court he tried to re- | TV,1i fnr hi fait ness. But Kiai was unwilling to have his devotion to his friend re- warded and escaped with his mother into the mountains, where they lived for several years regardless of Tsin's efforts to entice. him out into the world. Finally Tsin had the for ests in the mountain fired to compel Kiai to leave his hiding place. The unfortunate recluse and his mother were both burned Great clouds Of smoke engulfed the mountain for a single day The following day was 1 one of unusual brightness, and this
 briIHancy inspired the Spring Fes- l tiva1.
 The Chinese celebrate the day by l eating brilliantly dyed eggs and 1 decorate the doors of their homes 1 with willow branches Originally this was a period of fasting. At first 1 the celebrants would eat no hot food for a period of 30 days, but this was found to affect the health of the pub lie so. seriously that anz imperial edict I was issued centuries ago forbidding ! this feature.
 I The University of Ranking, an in- I stitution maintained by Americans has a department of agriculture and forestry which has attracted wide att 2 tention in China and has done much Ito inspire the movement for affore- lstatfon. Professor Joseph Bailie, an r1f h d A-
 pertinent. and has impressed the gov ernnnent so favorab1y by his work in l tree planting on Purple Mountain, Inear Ranking, that the Secretary of 4 Agriculture and Commerce has dis
 banded the college of agriculture es- Picking and sent 24 of the most
 promising students to work under Il Professor Bai1ie.
 I Practically all the provinces are
 now sending students to study for estry at Ranking, and the school
 which grew out of the efforts of a
 few missionaries to-point the way in the conservation of natural resources
 promises to become a vital influence
 in the movement to restore trees to the cut-over lands of China.
 Because of the extreme poverty of
 the Chinese and the severity of the
 winter in the northern sections, all ttrees are seized upon for fuel by the
 poverty-stricken. Even the roots are grubbed out. SMany Chinese are
 compelled to burn dry grass to keep
 from freezing in extreme weather.
 The result Is bare hillsides which heavy rains rob of all fertile soil.
 Similar conditions exist also in most fef the 1owlands. Chinese rivers have become subzject to terrible floods
 since the devastatfons of forests in the hills and mountains. Lands which were once fertile have been
 robbed of their top soil by high
 waters and it has been deposited in river beds or on ground so near the level of the river that it can seldom produce. a crop because of the floods.
 Engineers who have made surveys of the Chinese rivers for the govrn- l ment in effort to devise systems of flood control hold out. little hope , until trees are restored in the hills to retain the water which now dashes
 with such speed that the channels I are inadequate to care for it.
 1 MT. Chou was educated in Amer ,d ica and has travelled widely in Eu- Irope studying conservation problems.
 He is thoroughly familiar with sthe different problems China, faces in her | efforts to make crops certain and
 avoid the famine and pestilence
 which sweep over the valleys in the 't government lacks the money neces-
 sary to carry on afforestatton in a large way, but the progressive min
 ister of agriculture is endeavoring to get the farmers of the republic all interested in tree planting and
 through their cooperation hopes to
 simplify the probelrns of the en-