Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/314

306 AGRICULTURE.

Agriculture in China ranks above all other industries, and is second only to the learned professions, for it is recognised that, in a country with so large a population, a sufficient supply of food is all-important. Once a year the Emperor himself ploughs a furrow. Agriculture in China differs from agriculture in Western lands in that it is more akin to horticulture; it is, in fact, intensive culture, on small holdings, about which so much has been heard at home in recent years. The land is handed on from father to sons, the original area thus becoming in course of time a collection of small plots. Cultivation is mainly by manual labour, though buffaloes are frequently employed in ploughing. For manuring purposes night-soil is applied in a liquid form during the growing season, and bean-cake is also largely used in the same way. The ashes of bean and cotton stalks are carefully collected for use when planting bean and cotton seeds. A form of medicago is largely grown and dug into the soil in a green state, from which it is to be inferred that the Chinese, through actual practice, have discovered the enriching value of the roots of leguminous plants, and have for ages been applying the principle of our "recent discovery" of nitro-culture.

The land generally in the central districts yields two crops annually. The main crops are beans (broad), wheat, barley, and rape during the winter months, and Soja hispida (oil beans), cotton, sesamum, and rice in the summer. Practically all the more common vegetables of Europe are grown in large quantities.

ARBORICULTURE.

Unfortunately, forestry does not exist in China, and the few forests which remain intact are being gradually denuded. This is the more regrettable since it would be possible to grow nearly all known timbers, as well as many valuable trees that are confined to China. The afforestation of the hills would be one of the most profitable undertakings that could engage the attention of China. As a direct asset her arboriculture in some years would be worth millions of taels—probably it would be of greater value than that of America—whilst, indirectly, the ameliorating effect of trees on the climate would tend to put an end to the floods, droughts, and famines which now occur with such frequency.

Bamboo is utilised by the natives to an almost unlimited extent. With it they can build and furnish their houses completely, and it is not surprising, therefore, that it is a feature of the landscape. Roughly speaking, there are about forty species of bamboo in China, ranging from the small Shantung variety of the north to the great Dendrocalmus of the south.

