AGRICULTURE IN CHINA.

Bruce Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 1207, 28 May 1880, Page 5

AGRICULTURE IN CHINA.

General Grant, in speaking of the methods of agriculture in China, said that he was shown a piece of laud which has been under cultivation every year for 5000 years without deterioration of the fertility of the soil. This result is effected by returning to the soil everything taken from it. Fish constitutes a large portion of the food of the people, and all the offal not consumed for human food is carefully applied to the soil, and fish is a great fertiliser. Even the roots of wheat — wheat is grown to a very limited extent — are taken, and rotted in a compost heap and returned to the soil. All the leaves and garbage are utilised in the same manner. He said — " Famines occur in the interior of China, in which thousands die of starvation. This is due to the want of facilities for transportation. In the aggregate the country produces enough to support even the dense life of China, but in some seasons there are portions of the country where crops are total or partial failures ; while in these same seasons crops are abundant and successful in other parts. Facilities for transportation would enable the more favored districts to supply the destitution in the localities of want, but no such facilities exist."