will serve to remind the reader of a beautiful passage in Scripture, which reads thus :— "He shall pour the water out of his buckets, NUMB. XXIV. 7. The most ingenious and useful method of irrigating the lands in China, however, is by means of a water-wheel, which is used in rapid rivers, where the chain-pump and the hand method cannot be made available. It has been thus described :-"The wheel, which is turned by the stream, varies from twenty to thirty feet or more in height, according to the elevation of the bank; and when once erected, a constant supply of water is poured by it into a trough on the summit of the river's side, and conducted in channels to the fields. The props of the wheels are of timber, and the axis is a cylinder of the same material; but every portion of the machine exhibits some modification or other of the bamboo, even to the fastenings and bindings; for not a single nail or piece of metal enters into its composition. The wheel consists of two rims of unequal diameter, of which the one next the bank is rather the least. This double wheel is connected with the axis by sixteen or eighteen spokes of bamboo, obliquely inserted near each extremity of the axis reaching the outer rim, and those proceeding from the exterior extremity of the same axis reaching the inner and smaller rim. Between the rims and the crossings of the spokes is woven a kind of close basket-work, serving as ladle-boards, which are acted upon by the current of the stream, and turn the wheel round. The whole diameter of the wheel being something greater than the height of the bank, about sixteen or eighteen hollow bamboos, closed at one end, are fastened to the circumference to act as buckets. These, however, are not loosely suspended, but firmly attached with their open mouths towards the inner or smaller rim of the wheel, at such an inclination that when dipping below the water their mouths are slightly raised from the horizontal position. As they rise through the air, their position approaches the upright sufficiently near to keep a considerable portion of the contents within them; but when they have reached the summit of the revolution, the mouths become enough depressed to pour the water into a large trough placed on a level with the bank to receive it. The impulse of the stream on the ladle-boards at the circumference of the wheel, with the radius of about fifteen feet, is sufficient to overcome the resistance arising from the difference of weight between the ascending and descending, or loaded and unloaded sides of the wheel. This impulse is increased, if necessary, at the particular spot where each wheel is erected, by damming the stream, and even raising the level of the water where it turns the wheel. When the supply of water is not required over the adjoining fields, the trough is merely turned aside or removed, and the wheel continues its stately motion, the water from the tubes pouring back again down its sides." While some of the Chinese husbandmen are thus employed in irrigating the land, others are dispersed over the field, watching every plant to see if any pernicious weed is growing by its side. When such is the case, he pulls the seedling from its bed, and plucks away the intruder, after which he replaces it in its proper situation. Despite this practice, however, weeds still spring up, and require the application of the hoe at two successive periods. This instrument is similar to that used in Europe, only it is of a stronger make, and has a short handle, which compels the labourer to stoop very much in the performance of his work. The rice, which is the staple food in China, is ripe about August or September. Then, invited by its yellow tinges, the reaper puts in his sickle, which is the type of our reaping-hook, and cuts it down. It is cut in the same manner as wheat in England, and still as the reaper lays down the bundles an assistant takes them up, and strikes them upon the sides of a tub, one half of which is surrounded by a curtain to screen the grain from the impulse of the breeze. This summarily completes the process of threshing. Some kinds of rice, however, cannot be threshed in this manner; whence it is carried in bundles on the shoulders of the labourer to a threshing floor, and beaten with a flail similar to that used by the English peasantry. The other implements used are a fork, a shovel, a fan for winnowing the grain, and a basket to receive it when winnowed. The threshing-floor is constructed by spreading chunam, or lime, with some oily substance, upon a plot of ground prepared to receive it. It is uniformly constructed on some spot exposed to the winds, and the fanner chooses a day when the breeze is fresh to perform his operations. While at this work, his back is turned towards the current, and the corn thus exposed is speedily swept out of the fan, when the grains by their own weight descend in a curve to the floor, while the chaff is borne away and scattered over the surrounding country. This exactly corresponds to the practice of all oriental nations, and it will enable the reader to understand somewhat of the force of that figure, wherein the psalmist, describing the utter destruction of the wicked, says:— "The ungodly are not so: But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." PSALM i. 4. Sometimes a second crop of rice is produced from the same field in China. The common practice, however, is to plant the field with vegetables immediately after the harvest. These vegetables are sweet potatoes, the pa-tsae, a species of raphanus resembling a turnip in its mode of growth, peas, cabbages, onions, etc. So well do the Chinese manure and pulverize the soil, that a field that waved with yellow corn is in a few days converted into a luxurious kitchen garden. While the vegetables are growing, they sprinkle the ground with some fructifying mixture, which at once enriches and waters the soil. The motive to this is economy, for the heavy rains of the summer wash away all the soluble parts of the earth, leaving a sterile mass of sand and stones. The Chinese are great economists, and perhaps in no instance is this characteristic more fully displayed than in their preparation of manure. Davis, writing on this subject, says: "Every substance convertible to manure is diligently husbanded. The cakes that remain after the expression of their vegetable oils, horns and bones reduced to powder, together with soot and ashes, and the contents of common sewers are much used. The plaster of old kitchens, which in China have no chimneys, but an opening at the top, is much valued, so that they will sometimes put new plaster on a kitchen for the sake of the old. All sorts of hair are used as manure, and barbers' shavings are carefully appropriated to that purpose. The annual produce must be considerable in a country where some hundred millions of heads are kept constantly shaved. Dung of all animals, but especially night soil, is esteemed above all others; which appears from Columella to have been the case among the Romans. Being sometimes formed into cakes, it is dried in the sun, and in this state becomes an object of sale to farmers, who dilute it previous to use. They construct large cisterns or pits lined with limeplaster, as well as earthen tubs sunk in the ground, with straw over them to prevent evaporation, in which all kinds of vegetable and animal refuse are collected. These, being diluted with a sufficient quantity of liquid, are left to undergo the putrefactive fermentation, and are then applied to the land. They correct hard water by the addition of quicklime, and are not ignorant of the uses of lime as a manure.' While the laying up of the refuse of a town conduces to the general benefit in the promotion of vegetation, it would seem to be any thing but agreeable. The tanks exposed to the influence of the weather, and the spreading forth of some parts to dry and waste in the sun, pollute the air |
