Total rain, 70.625
In the north the rains also fall copiously at the change of the monsoons, more particularly in spring, at which time they are of the greatest utility to the crops, which are sown or planted about that time. Those parts of China, however, which are included in the temperate zone, cannot properly be said to have a wet and dry season in the same sense as these terms are generally understood in the tropics. The winter months which are dry at Hong-kong are far from having the same character, at Shanghae, for example, where heavy and continued falls of rain and snow are of frequent occurrence. In fact, the climate of Northern China has a greater resemblance to that of the south of England or France, than it has to that of the southern parts of the Chinese empire; and although hotter, used always to remind me of the beautiful summers we have in England once in every ten and twelve years. The sky is for days and weeks together without a cloud, and in the evening a heavy dew falls and refreshes vegetation.
These remarks will assist the reader to understand more fully the theory and practice of Chinese agriculture, which form the subject of the following chapter.
[1] Davis's "Chinese."
CHAP. XVI.
CHINESE AGRICULTURE—EXAGGERATED STATEMENTS REGARDING ITS ADVANCEMENT.—SOIL OF THE HILLS.—TEA LAND.—SOIL OF THE PLAINS.—SUMMER CROPS.—RICE AND ITS CULTIVATION.—CHINESE PLOUGH AND HARROW.—NUMBER OF CROPS PRODUCED.—METHOD OF OBTAINING TWO CROPS OF RICE IN SUMMER IN THE PROVINCE OF CHEKIANG.—RICE HARVEST.—TERRACE CULTIVATION DESCRIBED.—THE TEIN-CHING PLANT, FROM WHICH THE NORTHERN INDIGO IS OBTAINED.—SUMMER HILL CROPS.—CULTIVATION OF SWEET POTATOES.—EARTH NUTS.—WINTER CROPS.—CELEBRATED SHAN-TUNG CABBAGE.—OIL PLANT.—WHEAT, BARLEY, ETC.—RIPENING OF WINTER CROPS.—MANURES—TWO PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THIS TURPOSE—THEIR CULTIVATION AND MODE OF APPLICATION.—A MANURE FOR MIXING WITH SEEDS.—ITS UTILITY.—OTHER MANURES IN COMMON USE.—MANURE TANKS.—NIGHT SOIL AND URINE—MODE OF APPLICATION.—SUCCESSION AND ROTATION OF CROPS.
The profession of agriculture in China has been highly honoured and encouraged by the government of the country, from the earliest times down to the present day. The husbandman ranks higher here than he does in any other country in the world, and the emperor himself marks his sense of the importance of agriculture, by engaging in its operations at the commencement of every season. In his character of "Son of Heaven," or mediator between the gods and his subjects, he devotes three days to solemn fasting and prayer, after which he proceeds to a field, and with his own hands holds the plough, and throws a portion of the rice seed into the ground, thus showing the importance which government attaches to industry in the cultivation of the earth, that there may be plenty on the land to supply the wants of the teeming population.
The progress and advancement of the Chinese in agriculture as an art has been, however, greatly exaggerated by many who have adverted to this subject in their writings. The Chinese government has been always so jealous of foreigners entering the country, that those who were probably able to form a correct opinion on the subject were prevented from doing so, and were led away by the fertility of their imaginations; while, on the other hand, the Roman Catholic missionaries who travelled and resided in the interior, were evidently ignorant of the art itself, as well as of the progress it had made in other countries. But it must also be borne in mind, that whilst agriculture has been advancing rapidly towards perfection amongst the nations of the western world, the Chinese in this, as with most other things, have remained stationary, and hence there must be a much greater disparity between us and them now than there was when the early writers upon China published their works. To these writers, and more particularly to those who kept on faithfully copying their works, we must attribute the erroneous opinions which have been generally held by us in every thing relating to the agriculture of the Chinese. I have no doubt that, as a nation, they surpass the natives of India and other half-civilised states in this art, as they do in most other peaceful accomplishments; but it is ridiculous, now at least, to compare them for a moment with our intelligent farmers in England or Scotland. As well might we compare their coasting junks with the navy of England, or their merchants with ours, whose ships are met with on every sea, and whose commercial operations extend to every quarter of the world. In order, however, that the reader may form an opinion for himself, I will describe in detail what passed under my own eye connected with this subject, during my travels of nearly three years in the country. In that space of time I had an opportunity of seeing repeatedly the various methods of cultivation and their results, both in the north and in the south; all of which were carefully noted in my journal at the time.