is an univerial praCtice to fteep the feeds previous to their being
fown. I f turnip-feeds be fteeped in lime and urine, the plant
is faid not' to be attacked by the infefl. Near all the houfes
-are large earthen jars funk ill the ground, for collecting and
preferring thefe and other materials that are convertible, by
putrefactive fermentation, into manure. Old men and children
may be feen near all the villages with fmall rakes and
bafkets, collecting every kind o f dirt, or offals, that come in
their way. ’ Their eagernefs to pick up whatever may be ufed
as manure led to fome ridiculous fcenes. Whenever our barges
halted and the foldiers and fervants found it neceffary to ftep
on fhore, they were always purfued to their place o f retirement
by thefe collectors o f food for vegetables. It may literally be
ffid in this country, that -nothing is fuffered to be loft. The
profeffion o f lhaving is followed by vaft numbers in China.
As the whole head is ihaved, except a fmall lock behind, few,
i f any, are able to operate upon themfelves. And as hair is
confidered an excellent manure, every barber carries with him
a fmall bag to colled the fpoils o f his razor.
The common plough o f the country is a fimple machine
and much inferior to the very worft o f ours. We faw one
drill plough in Shan-tung different from all the reft. It con-
fifted o f two parallel poles o f wood, Ihod at the lower extremities
with iron to open the furrows; thefe poles were
placed on wheels: a fmall hopper was attached to each
pole to drop the feed into the furrows, which were covered
with earth by a tranfverfe piece o f wood fixed behind, that
juft fwept the furface o f the ground.
The
The machine ufually employed for clearing rice from the
hulk, in the large way, is exactly the fame as that now ufed
in Egypt for the fame purpofe, only that the latter -is put in
motion by oxen, and the former commonly by water. This
machine confifts o f a long horizontal axis o f wopd, with cogs
or projecting pieces o f wood or iron .fixed upon it, at certain
intervals, and it is turned by a water-wheel At right angles
to this axis are fixed as many horizontal levers as there are
circular rows o f cogs; thefe levers aCt on pivots, that are
faftened into,a low brick wall built parallel to the axis, and at
the diftance o f about two feet from it. , At the further extremity
o f each lever, and perpendicular to it, is. fixed a hollow peftie,
direCtly over a large mortar o f ftone or iron funk into the
ground ; the,, other extremity extending beyond the wall, being
preffed upon by the cogs of the axis in its revolution, elevates.
the peftie, which by its own gravity falls into the mortar.
An axis of this,kind fpmetimes gives motion to fifteen or twenty
levers. This machine * , as well as the, plough, -ftill in, ufe in
modern Egypt, which is alfo the fame as the .Chinefe plough,
have been .confidered by a member o f the French lnftitute to be
the fame inftruments as thofe employed in.that country two
thoufand years ago ; and judging from the maxims o f the Chi-
nefe government, and the character o f the people, an antiquity
equally great may be affigned to them in the latter country. The
bamboo wheel for raifing water, or fomething approaching very
near to it, either with buckets appended to the circumference,
ox with fellies, hollowed out fo as to fcoop up water, was, alfo in
* See the plate facing page 37.
ufe