Year: 1875

Notwithstanding we are accustomed


to look upon the natives of the Celestial
Empire with a certain degree of super


ciliOusness, as an inferior race, there


are many things in which they are not


only our equals but our superiors.
Among these may be mentioned agri-
culture, which is the principal occupa-
tion of the great mass of the people.
Next to letters agriculture is considered


in China as the noblest occupation of


man, and in order to remind these peo-
pie that it is the basis and foundation of
society, the emperor himself and the
viceroy OF the province once year per-


form the ceremony of plowing few
burrows and sowing some one Of the ce-


real grains. The people are thus made
to understand that the poorest farmer is


entitled to respect, since his pursuit is
ennobled by the participation in it of
the most exalted of human potentates


known to him, and recognized as one of
the most necessary and exalted employ


ments. 1t is true that modern labor


saving machinery, and the chemistry


OF agriculture are entirely unknown to
the Chinaman, but it is equally
true that no nation on the earth


practices agriculture more thoroughly


or successfully than the Chinese. Their
implements are very rude, but their
practical skill and industry are without


parallel in any part of the world. We


have seen some evidence of this in the


Chinese market-gardens of this State,


and it is quite certain, soil and capital


being equal, that no European or Amer


lean can excel them in the perfect culti-
walton of land for any purpose. They


are able to raise greater crops from a
given area than any other people under


the sun. Their system of irrigation is


well-nigh perfect, and far in advance


of any thing attempted by west


ern nations, and their knowl-
edge of the value and useful


ness of manure is manifested in their


extreme care in collecting it from every


possible source in country where very
few domestic animals are used. Very
few neat cattle or horses are to be found
in China, as the inhabitants make little


use of beef, milk, butter or cheese, and


either carry burdens upon bamboo poles


or transport them by water upon their
innumerable canals. Hence they are


forced to gather manures from other
sources. They make use of all fecal


matter, muck, ashes, plaster, offal,
hair (eyen the BARRIERS gathering and


saving the results of their tonsorial ope-


rations and selling them to the farmers) !,


and whatever else experience has taught
them has power to invigorate the soil.


The density Of the population is SO great
that they cannot afford to let their fields


lie fallow, and, as they understand lit
tie about the rotation of crops, they are


compelled to maintain the productive


ness of the soil by constant manuring


and irrigation. In the fertile country
between the Yellow and Yang-tee
Rivers, and south of the latter, two
crops per year are raised from the same
field. Neither fences nor hedges are


used, and travellers remark that the
cultivated plain appears like vast gar
den, in which the plats appear to be


mere beds.


With all our vaunted knowledge and


our best improved agricultural ma


chinery, they are probably as far in ad-
vance of the skilled cultivators of Eu-
rope as the latter are ahead of the ranch
men of the Pacific coast. Since, then,
the Chinese are among us, let us make
the best of their presence, and conde-
scend to be taught thoroughness of


culture which has been growing up in
Asia through scores OF centuries and
which, according to their accounts, has


been practised for twenty-three thou
sand years San Francisco Chronicle.