Page:Farmers of forty centuries.djvu/189

Rh anchored in front of the mulberry orchard is the home of a family coming from a distance, seeking employment during the season for picking mulberry leaves to feed silkworms. We were much surprised, on looking back at the boat after closing the camera, to see the head of the family standing erect in the center, having shoved back a section of the matting roof.

Fig. 93.—Section of field covered with piles of canal mud recently applied at the rate of more than 70 tons per acre; taken out of the canal up the three flights of earth steps shown in the lower part of the figure.

The dressing of mud applied to this field formed a loose layer more than two inches deep and when compacted by the rains which would follow would add not less than a full