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Farmers of Forty Centuries; Or, Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan By: F. H. (Franklin Hiram) King (1848-1911) |
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FARMERS OF FORTY CENTURIES OR PERMANENT AGRICULTURE IN CHINA, KOREA AND JAPAN By F. H. KING, D. Sc. 1911
PREFACE By DR. L. H. BAILEY. We have not yet gathered up the experience of mankind in the tilling
of the earth; yet the tilling of the earth is the bottom condition
of civilization. If we are to assemble all the forces and agencies
that make for the final conquest of the planet, we must assuredly
know how it is that all the peoples in all the places have met the
problem of producing their sustenance out of the soil. We have had few great agricultural travelers and few books that
describe the real and significant rural conditions. Of natural
history travel we have had very much; and of accounts of sights and
events perhaps we have had too many. There are, to be sure, famous
books of study and travel in rural regions, and some of them, as
Arthur Young's "Travels in France," have touched social and
political history; but for the most part, authorship of agricultural
travel is yet undeveloped. The spirit of scientific inquiry must now
be taken into this field, and all earth conquest must be compared
and the results be given to the people that work. This was the point of view in which I read Professor King's
manuscript. It is the writing of a well trained observer who went
forth not to find diversion or to depict scenery and common wonders,
but to study the actual conditions of life of agricultural peoples.
We in North America are wont to think that we may instruct all the
world in agriculture, because our agricultural wealth is great and
our exports to less favored peoples have been heavy; but this wealth
is great because our soil is fertile and new, and in large acreage
for every person. We have really only begun to farm well. The first
condition of farming is to maintain fertility. This condition the
oriental peoples have met, and they have solved it in their way. We
may never adopt particular methods, but we can profit vastly by
their experience. With the increase of personal wants in recent
time. the newer countries may never reach such density of population
as have Japan and China; but we must nevertheless learn the first
lesson in the conservation of natural resources, which are the
resources of the land. This is the message that Professor King
brought home from the East. This book on agriculture should have good effect in establishing
understanding between the West and the East. If there could be such
an interchange of courtesies and inquiries on these themes as is
suggested by Professor King, as well as the interchange of athletics
and diplomacy and commerce, the common productive people on both
sides should gain much that they could use; and the results in amity
should be incalculable. It is a misfortune that Professor King could not have lived to write
the concluding "Message of China and Japan to the World." It would
have been a careful and forceful summary of his study of eastern
conditions. At the moment when the work was going to the printer, he
was called suddenly to the endless journey and his travel here was
left incomplete. But he bequeathed us a new piece of literature, to
add to his standard writings on soils and on the applications of
physics and devices to agriculture. Whatever he touched he
illuminated.
CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN GRAVE LANDS OF CHINA TO HONGKONG AND CANTON UP THE SI KIANG, WEST RIVER EXTENT OF CANALIZATION AND SURFACE FITTING OF FIELDS SOME CUSTOMS OF THE COMMON PEOPLE THE FUEL PROBLEM, BUILDING AND TEXTILE MATERIALS TRAMPS AFIELD THE UTILIZATION OF WASTE IN THE SHANTUNG PROVINCE ORIENTALS CROWD BOTH TIME AND SPACE RICE CULTURE IN THE ORIENT SILK CULTURE THE TEA INDUSTRY ABOUT TIENTSIN MANCHURIA AND KOREA RETURN TO JAPAN
INTRODUCTION A word of introduction is needed to place the reader at the best
view point from which to consider what is said in the following
pages regarding the agricultural practices and customs of China,
Korea and Japan... Continue reading book >>
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