HUSBANDMEN, AND THE HONOUR PAID TO AGRICULTURE IN CHINA.

From Navarette, Le Comte, Du Halde, &c.

The Husbandmen in China, as to rank, are preferred to Merchants and Mechanics. They are endowed with large privileges, their profession being considered as the most necessary one in a state. Navarette observes, that the Chinese say, that the Emperor ought to take them under his particular care, and to allow them as large privileges as may be; because all the empire subsists by their labour and industry. Nay, it could not subsist without the strongest inclination and application of the country-people that way! China being so vastly populous, that if every inch of arable land was sowed, as in fact it generally is, yet the produce would be scarce sufficient to support the multitudes of inhabitants; and the empire is too extensive to have its wants that way supplied from foreign parts, even if it kept up a correspondence with them. For these reasons it has always been one of the chiefest cares of the government to promote Agriculture, by honouring husbandmen and their profession. With this view a festival is instituted in honour of agriculture; and the Emperor himself, once a year, turns ploughman, in imitation, as it is said, of the early monarchs, whose history seems to be calculated for the same end.

The common opinion, according to the Missioners, is, that husbandry was first taught by Shin-nong, who is at this day reverenced as the inventor of so useful an art; which has still gained farther credit from what is related in the books of their ancient philosophers. The Emperor Yau, who began to reign four hundred and eighty years after the monarch, it seems, set aside his own children in favour of a young husbandman, whom he chose for his successor. This choice of an emperor out of the country, has inspired the Chinese with a great esteem for agriculture. Yu, who succeeded Shun, came to the throne after the same manner. It is said, he found out the way, by means of canals, to drain off the water into the sea, which at the beginning of the empire overflowed several low countries, and afterwards made use of them to render the soil fruitful. It is added that he wrote several books concerning the manner of cultivating land, and watering it, which induced Shun to appoint him his successor, and has contributed much to raise the credit of agriculture, as they see it has been thought worthy the care and application of a great Prince.

Several other emperors have expressed their zeal for this art. Kang Vang, third monarch of the Chew family, caused land-marks to be fixed, to prevent disputes among the husbandmen. King-Ving, the twenty-fourth of the same race, in whose reign Confusius was born, five hundred and thirty-one years before Christ, renewed the laws that had been made for promoting agriculture. In a word, the Emperor Ven-ti, who reigned three hundred and fifty-two years after, raised its esteem to a great pitch: for this Prince perceiving, that his country was ruined by the wars, to engage his subjects to cultivate the land, set them an example himself, by ploughing the fields belonging to his palace: which obliged all the ministers and gentlemen of his court to do the same.

It is thought, that this was the original of a great festival that is solemnized every year in all the great cities of China, when the sun enters the fifteenth degree of aquarius; which the Chinese look upon as the beginning of the spring. On this day the Governor comes out of his palace, carried in his chair, preceded by banners, lighted torches, and divers instruments; he is attended with several litters, painted, and adorned with a variety of silk tapestry; exhibiting various figures, and the portraits of illustrious persons who had practised husbandry, with histories relating to the same subject! He is crowned with flowers; and marches in this equipage towards the eastern gate of the city, as it were to meet the spring.

Among the figures, there is a cow of earthenware, so monstrously large that forty men can hardly carry it.—Behind the cow, whose horns are gilt, is a young child with one foot naked and the other shod: him they call the genius of labour and diligence; who strikes the earthen cow incessantly with a rod, as though it were to make it advance. All the husbandmen follow with their instruments; after whom proceed companies of Masquers and Comedians, acting plays. In this manner they march to the Governor's palace, where they strip the cow of her ornaments; and drawing out of her belly a prodigious number of small cows made of clay, and distribute them among the multitude, as well as the fragments of the cow, which they break into pieces.—Afterwards the Governor makes a short discourse, recommending the care of husbandry as one of the things most conducive to the good of a state.

The attention of the Emperors and Mandarins to the cultivation of the land is so great, that when deputies arrive at court from the Vice-Roys, the Chinese monarch never forgets to demand in what condition the fields appeared to them; and the falling of a seasonable shower furnishes a proper occasion for visiting a Mandarin, to compliment him thereupon.—Every year, in spring, which falls in February, the Emperor (according to the ancient custom) goes himself, in a solemn manner, to plough a few ridges of land, in order to animate the husbandmen by his own example; and the Mandarins of every city perform the ceremony, which is as follows—The tribunal of Mathematics having, pursuant to orders, fixed on the twenty-fourth of the second moon, as the proper day for the ceremony of tillage, that of the Rites gave notice to the present Emperor Yong-Ching, by a memorial which set forth the following particulars to be observed by him, preparatory to this festival.—1st. That he should appoint 12 illustrious persons to attend and plough after him, viz. three princes, and nine presidents of the sovereign courts; or the assistants of the latter, in case they were too old, or infirm.—2nd. That as this ceremony does not solely consist in the Emperor's ploughing the earth, in order to stir up emulation by his own example; but also includes a sacrifice, which he, as Chief Pontiff, offers to Shang-ti, to procure plenty from him in favour of the people; therefore by way of preparation, he ought to fast and observe continence the three preceding days; the Princes and Mandarins, who accompany his Majesty, ought to prepare themselves in the same manner.—3rd. That on the eve of the ceremony, his Majesty is to send several Lords of the first quality to the Hall of his ancestors, to prostrate themselves before their Tablet, and give them notice, as though they were yet living, that the next day he will offer the great sacrifice.

Besides these directions to the Emperor, the tribunal likewise prescribes the preparations to be made by the different tribunals; one is obliged to prepare the sacrifice; another to compose the formula; another to carry and set up the tents, under which his Majesty is to dine, in case he so orders it; a fourth is to assemble forty or fifty husbandmen, venerable for their age, who are to be present when the Emperor ploughs the ground, with forty of the younger sort to make ready the ploughs, yoke the oxen, and prepare the grain that is to be sown; consisting of five sorts, supposed to comprehend all the rest, as wheat, rice, beans, and two kinds of millet.

On the twenty-fourth day of the moon, the Emperor went with his whole court, in his habit of ceremony, to the place appointed, to offer to Shang-ti the spring sacrifice; by which he is implored to increase and preserve the fruits of the earth. The place is a little hillock made of earth, a few furlongs south from the city; on the side of this elevation, which ought to be fifty feet four inches high, is the spot which is to be ploughed by the Imperial hands.

After the Emperor had offered sacrifices, he descended with the three Princes and nine Presidents, who were to plough with him. Several great Lords carried the valuable chests, which contained the grains that were to be sown. All the court attended with profound silence; then the Emperor took the plough and tilled the ground several times backwards and forwards; when he quitted it a prince of the blood held it and ploughed; as did all the rest in their turns. After having ploughed in several places, the Emperor sowed the different grain; and the day following, the Husbandmen by profession, (forty-four of them old and forty-two of them young) finished the remainder of the field that was left untilled. The ceremony concluded with the appointed reward, which the Emperor bestowed upon each of them; consisting of four pieces of dyed cotton to make cloths.

The Governor of Pe-King goes often to visit this field, which is cultivated with great care; and examines all the ridges thoroughly, to see if he can meet with any uncommon ears, such as they reckon good omens; on which occasion he gives notice, that he found a stalk, for instance, that bore thirteen ears. In the autumn the same governor gets in the grain in yellow sacks; which are stowed in a granary built for that purpose, called the Imperial Magazine. This grain is kept for the most solemn ceremonies; for when the Emperor sacrifices to Tyen, or Shang-ti, he offers it as the fruit of his own hands; and on certain days in the year, he presents it to his ancestors, as if they were still living.

Among several good regulations made by the same Emperor, he has shown an uncommon regard for the Husbandmen. To encourage them in their labour, he has ordered the governors of all the cities to send him notice every year, of the person of this profession, in their respective districts, who is most remarkable for his application to agriculture; for unblemished reputation; for preserving union in his own family, and peace with his neighbours; for his frugality and aversion to extravagance. Upon the report of the governor, the Emperor will advance this wise and diligent Husbandman to the degree of a Mandarin of the eighth order, and send him patents of an ordinary Mandarin; which distinction will entitle him to wear the habit of a Mandarin, to visit the governor of the city, to sit in his presence, and drink tea with him. He will be respected all the rest of his days.—After his death he will have funeral obsequies suitable to his degree; and his title of honour shall be written in the hall of his ancestors. What emulation must such a reward excite among the Husbandmen!

Accordingly we find that they are continually busied about their lands if they have any time to spare, they go immediately to the mountains to cut wood; to the garden to look to their herbs, or to cut canes, &c. so that they are never idle. The land in China never lies fallow. Generally the same ground produces three crops in a year; first rice; and before it is reaped they sow fitches; and when they are in, wheat, beans, or some other grain: thus it goes continually round. They very seldom employ their land for unprofitable uses, such as flower gardens, or fine walks; believing useful things more for the public good, and their own.

The attention of husbandmen is chiefly employed in the cultivation of rice. They manure their land extremely well; gathering for that purpose, with extraordinary care, all sorts of ordure, both of men and animals, or truck for it wood, herbs, or linseed oil. This kind of manure, which elsewhere would burn up the plants, is very proper for the lands of China; where they have an art of tempering it with water before they use it. They gather the dung in pails, which they commonly carry covered on their shoulders; and this contributes very much to the cleanness of their cities, whose filth is thus taken away every day.

In the province of Che-Kyang, and other places, where they sow rice, they use balls of hog's, or even human hair; which, according to them, gives strength to the land, and makes that grain grow better. For this reason, Barbers save the hair which they cut off the heads, and sell for about a halfpenny a pound to such people, who carry it away in bags; and you may often see barks loaded with it. When the plant begins to ear, if the land be watered with spring water, they mix quicklime with it; saying that it kills worms and insects, destroys weeds, and gives a warmth to the ground, which contributes much to fertility. By this means the rice fields are so clean, that Navarette, sometimes, walked through them, looking for some small herb; and could never find any; so that he concludes, the rice which is surprisingly tall and fine, draws all the nourishment from the ground.

The husbandmen sow their grain at first without any order; but when it has shot about a foot, or a foot and a half high, they pluck it up by the roots; and making it into a sort of small sheaves, plant it by a line, and checkerwise; to the end, that ears, resting upon each other, may stand more firmly, and resist the winds.—But, before the rice is transplanted, they level the land, and make it very smooth, after the following manner. Having ploughed the ground three or four times successively, always to the ancles in water, they break the clods with the head of their mattocks; then, by the help of a wooden machine (on which a man stands upright, and guides the buffalo that draws it) they smooth the earth, that the water may be every where of an equal height; insomuch that the plains seem more like vast gardens than open fields.

The mountains in China are all cultivated; but one sees neither hedges nor ditches, nor scarce any tree; so fearful they are of loosing an inch of ground. It is very agreeable to behold, in some places, plains three or four leagues in length, surrounded with hills and mountains, cut from bottom to top, into terraces three or four feet high, and rising one above another, sometimes to the number of twenty or thirty. These mountains are not generally rocky, as those in Europe, the soil being light and porous, and so easy to be cut in several provinces, that one may dig three or four hundred feet without meeting with the rock. When the mountains are rocky, the Chinese loosen the stones, and make little walls of them to support the terraces; they then level the good soil and sow it with grain.

They are still more industrious.—Though in some provinces, there be barren and uncultivated mountains, yet the valleys and fields which separate them in a vast number of places, are very fruitful and well cultivated. The husbandman first levels all the unequal places that are capable of culture. He then divides that part of the land, which is on the same level, into plots; and that along the edges of the valleys, which is unequal, into stories, in form of an amphitheatre: and as the rice will not thrive without water, they make reservoirs, at proper distances, and different heights, to catch the rain and the water which descends from the mountains, in order to distribute it equally among their rice plots; either by letting it run down from the reservoir to the plots below, or causing it to ascend from the lower reservoir to the highest stories.

For this purpose they make use of certain hydraulic engines, which are very simple, both as to their make and the manner of playing them. It is composed of a chain made of wood, resembling a chaplet or pair of beads, strung as it were with a great number of flat boards, six or seven inches square, and placed parallel at equal distances. This chain passes through a square tube or gutter: at the lower end whereof is a smooth cylinder or barrel, whose axis is fixed in the two sides: and to the upper end is fastened a sort of drum, set round with little boards to answer those of the chain, which passes round both it and the cylinder; so that when the drum is turned, the chain turns also; and, consequently, the lower end of the gutter or tube being put into the water, and the drum-end set to the height where the water is to be conveyed, the boards filling exactly the cavity of the tube, must carry up a continual stream so long as the machine is in motion; which is performed in three ways:—1st. With the hand, by means of one or two handles applied to the ends of the axis of the drum.—2nd. With the feet, by means of certain large wooden pegs, about half a foot long, set round the axle-tree of the drum for that purpose.—These pegs have long heads, rounded on the outside, for applying the soles of the naked feet; so that one or more men, may with the greatest ease put the engine in motion, either standing or sitting; their hands being employed all the while, the one holding an umbrella, and the other a fan.—3rd. By the assistance of a buffalo, or some other animal made fast to a great wheel, about four yards in diameter, placed horizontally. Round its circumference are fixed a great number of pegs or teeth; which tallying exactly with those in the axle-tree of the drum, turn the machine with a great deal of ease.

When a canal is to be cleansed, which often happens,—it is divided, at convenient distances, by dikes; and every neighbouring village, being allotted its share, the peasants immediately appear with their chain-engines; whereby the water is conveyed from one to the other. This labour, though painful, is soon ended, by means of the multitudes of hands. In some parts, as the province of Fo-Kyen, the mountains, though not very high, are contiguous, and with scarce any valleys between; yet they are all cultivated by the art which the husbandmen have to convey the water from one to the other through pipes made of bamboo.

To this surprizing industry of the husbandmen, is owing that great plenty of grain and herbs, that reigns in China above all other regions. Notwithstanding which, the land hardly suffices to support its inhabitants; and one may venture to say, that to live comfortably they have need of a country as large again.