Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/97

Rh canals for fertilizers is the only way by which the Chinese have kept their canals in reasonably good condition for centuries. The fertilizer has paid for itself both ways. Recently there were complaints filed at Peking that the ashes from the steam launches plying on the canals were injuring the muck for fertilizing purposes, and the prob- lem has been considered a serious one by the Chinese government.

In addition to securing fertilizers from the canals, and thus keeping the canals in condition, the farmers help keep them purified by gathering all floating weeds, grass, and other vegetable debris that they can find upon them. Boatmen will secure great loads of water plants and grass by skimming the surface of the canal. The reeds growing along the canals are used for weaving baskets of several grades and for fuel. In short, no plant life about the canal goes to waste.

Where there are so many canals there is more or less swamp ground. In China this is utilized for the raising of lotus roots, from which commercial arrowroot is largely obtained. There is no reason why much of the waste swamp land in the southern portion of the United States should not be used for a similar purpose, and the commercial returns from a venture of this sort in that part of the country ought to be satisfactory. Where the canals of China widen, by reason of natural waterways or for other reasons, the expanse of water not needed for actual navigation is made use of in the raising of water nuts of several varieties, especially what are known as water chestnuts. These nuts are raised in immense quantities. They are, strictly speaking, bulbs rather than nuts. They are rich in arrowroot and are prolific, an acre of shallow water producing far more than an acre of well cultivated soil planted in ordinary grain or similar crops. These nuts, also, could be produced to advantage in the United States where there is land inundated for the growing season to a depth which will give ordinary water plants a chance to thrive and which is not capable of being drained for the time being. The nuts or bulbs are toothsome when roasted, and are wholesome, but probably would be more valuable in the United States for the manufactured products which can be secured from them.

There are duck farms all along the canals in China. These are profitable. Chinese canals, as a rule, considering the population upon them and their varied uses, are cleaner than canals in the United States. There are few if any factories to contaminate them. The Chinese use of certain sewage for fertilization also prevents contamination to a great extent. The canal water is used for laundry, bath, and culinary purposes indiscriminately. A canal in the United States could never be what it is in China, but the Chinese have a number of clever devices and ideas in connection with their canals which can be adopted in the United States with profit.

The Grand Canal system in China has existed in almost its present shape since about the time Columbus discovered America. The Grand Canal itself, extending from Hangchau to Pekin, is about a thousand miles long. Much of it is banked with stone, and all of it is in such condition that with the expendi- ture of a little money the system could be put upon a modern and effective basis. As it is, the canal handles prac- tically all the internal trade of China, and this trade is far greater than its for- eign trade. The coming of railroads will affect the canals somewhat, but not so much as may be imagined, for the railroads will very largely build up a trade of their own. A little money will make China's canal system in the future what it has been in the past, the greatest on earth.