Show I New Revolution Stirs China as Farmers Learn Modern Methods From U. U S. S Expert I I Cultivation Limit I I Yield of Tiny Plots By BARROW LYONS Western Newspaper UnIon Correspondent Probably no man has planned practical farming on so vast a scale as Dr Walter C. C Lowdermilk assistant t chief of the U U. S soil conservation conservation conser- conser service who has just returned from a year in China His plans envisage revolutionizing the agriculture of Chinese provinces the size of several states of freeing several hundred millions of farmers from rom the soil so that tha t they can build new industries for Chino China of seeding acres of eroded hillsides with grasses legumes and hardy trees of educating the masses away from the farming traditions of many centuries through demonstrations of what can be done Dr Lowdermilk has a record of solid achievement behind him With other experts of our Soil Conservation Conserva Conserva- tion service he has hns helped AmerIcan Amer Amer- lean Ican farmers increase the yields of their own fields The average in- in r. S 5 j k ir ift I FARMERS FAR WATCH a demonstration tion in American agricultural methods meth- meth in Hwang Lung Shan region or of province At first skeptical they became interested when larger harvests proved superiority or of Yankee ways creased yield in the last 10 years in this country due to soil and water wa- wa vater ter conservation has been about 20 per cent in some ome cases running up to per cent It was this realistic demonstration which led the Chinese to borrow him for a year The basic reason China has remained remained re- re a backward country is that it requires four farm families to support five families of the tion In the United States one farm family raises enough food for five itself families and four others Lets Let's put it differently In China acres of cultivated land land- and that is nearly all that China can find to supports cultivate after a fashion about people In other words less than half on an acre per person is used to grow food for forthe forthe the Chinese In the United States acres of cultivated land are used to support people about 5 acres per person or 11 times as much land per pers persOn n for food as in China Freeing Workers for Factories Better use of Chinas China's land for farming would free millions for other other oth- oth er pursuits China must industrial industrial- ize China can do so by freeing men and women from growing food When Dr Lowdermilk went to China the Chinese government gave him a stair eight agricultural ex- ex For several months he taught them from field manuals in soils agronomy Irrigation engineering 1 T s WITH A BENT STICK for a plow and two donkeys Cor or power this man turns the soil near Fleas chul in southern province forestry hydraulic engineering and farm economics the methods b by which the United States in recent years has made gains in soil conservation conservation con con- and productivity Then they went out into the land and got gotto gotto to work One of their first surveys looked toward improving Irrigation along the banks of the Peng river where it runs through fertile plains between high hills in The unit of land measurement in China is the mow about sixth one of an acre About mow on the plain along the river is fertile with plenty of available water The Thc Peng river is diverted to this land by Ir Ir- dItches of carefully laid stones without cement or other bindI bind bind- I T f C- C r r l 4 TERRACED SLOPES built with much painful labor are arc being ruined by erosion as cut through the lands ThIs scene is in inthe inthe the province of Dr Lowdermilk Lowdermilk Low Low- is standing In the foreground fore rore- ground making a survey ing The spring floods generally wash out many of the stones and wreck the diversion works so that on the average only third one of the area can count on a water supply sup sup- supply ply each year Another mow on the sides of the lower mountains consist of steep slop slopes s some of them 80 percent per percent cent slopes which are cultivated but suffering rapid soil erosion About mow are too high for agriculture agriculture agri- agri culture but are capable of growing forests if properly cared for and now produce abundant water supply Concrete highway Nee Needed ed The farmers have cleared the Intermediate intermediate In- In slopes and are raising meager crops upon them These slopes can be used for growing grass upon whIch sheep can pasture But there is at present no means of marketing the sheep from the lower hills or lumber from the higher hills Concrete highways will vill be the answer I But in handling the land surface surface sur- sur face the lessons learned from the Tennessee Valley experiment point the way to reclamation is to be a model guinea pig county for China Dr Lowdermilk and his experts laid the foundations for a avast avast vast demonstration of replacing loose stone diversion ditches with cement channels and making over the face of the valley so that its crops will never fail Near Sian in the Province of an actual demonstration was begun Bench terracing that would conserve both soil and moisture was put in with improvised plows and tools grass was planted along the 5 S S. S S. S 4 5 A BULLOCK DRAGGING a stone roller Is the threshing machine for these people in ridges and crests to stop erosion nut and fruit trees were planted on steeper slopes seeded with grass Over an area of some mow the yield was increased between May and October and erosion was virtually virtu virtu- ally stopped S Chinese farmers from miles around watched at first with deep but cism-but in the fall when the crops were gathered gather d they came to praise even to ask that similar work bedone be bedone done on their own farms Three Acre Farms One of the great handicaps to modern farming in China lies in the fact that farms are all small The average farm in most of China is about 33 acres In the Northwest the farms are larger about five acres each This means that modern machinery cannot be used economically economically econom- econom unless villages can pool their land and farm cooperatively ThIs is the pattern that is being advocated by the Chinese government govern govern- ment and is beginning to find ac- ac As the tremendously increased increased in- in creased efficiency and profit of the use of modern machinery become become be- be come evident there is no doubt that this type of farming will spread as rapidly as machinery can be ob ob- tamed Farm machinery manufacturers take note But there resistance arises from the intense Individuality of the Chinese Chinese Chi Chi- nese farmer He is even more independent independent in- in dependent and individualistic than the American farmer He likes to work his little farm by himself without without with with- out even hired labor in most cases When farmers try to work to together ether they generally get to quarreling he feels He is likely not to like the way his neIghbor does things Just the same when he sees the vIllage next to hIs which has adopted adopt adopt- ed the new ways of farmIng prospering prospering pros pros- as he never thought possible he is moved to giving iving consideration to the advantage of cooperative oc- oc tion Then too he has heard of the strange things that are happening happening happen happen- ing In the cities where cooperative industries have sprung up to make implements of war for Chiang Kai Kai- shek's armies And when he thinks about It for a while cooperation becomes be be- 5 comes worth trying although at first the hazards seem extreme Bombing Grass Seed Perhaps the most spectacular of 01 the plans developed by Dr Lowdermilk Lowder- Lowder milk and his experts Is the project fur for reclaiming almost a third of China Chinn which has been ruined for cultivation by deforestation and ero- ero sion sian These intrepid pioneers propose pro pro- pose that after the war when airplanes airplanes air air- S planes and pilots become available this land be seeded with clay pellets pel- pel lets which contain the seeds of grass and leguminous herbs and hardy trees After the war the Chinese hope to I drop millions of seeds upon the washed out slopes of China when they are damp and soft soH after rains so that tile the pellets will sink in and stick and the seeds will grow Th Thc chief difficulty will be to obtain enough seeds In one year the United United Unit Unit- S ed States Soil Conservation service managed to get pounds of grass seed for soil soH reclamation in 5 S r-n. r I 5 S ANOTHER VIEW of terraced land from a greater distance shows the character or of this type or of cultivation As much or of China is hilly this method meth meth- od must be used this country but much more will be needed if the job is to be done quickly in China Cattle and Sheep Land Beyond the Great Wall of China built to keep out the nomad tribes that wandered over the great grassy areas of the west and north still other food possibilities are open for the Chinese Here they can raise blooded cattle and sheep for beef and mutton in great quantities So the program shapes up like this 1 soil conservation through bench terracing and the planting planting plant plant- ing of grass 2 fruit and nut trees for the steeper slopes that should not be farmed with grain or row crops 3 better irrigation tion 4 reforestation of the mountains and development of water power 5 improvement in fertilizers 6 6 cooperative farming farming farm farm- ing which makes possible the introduction of modern machinery machin machin- cry ery 7 cement highways tomake to tomake make possible the exchange of products 8 reclamation of eroded erod erod- ed lands with soil saving dams and and 9 beef raising for the grassy plains and sheep for the hillsides I I 1 have utmost faith that the Chinese Chinese Chi Chi- nese will do these things and solve their own problems said Dr Low Low- They are the best farmers farm farm- ers in the world in the sense that they understand the nature of growing growing grow grow- ing things and ore are extremely hard working Their government is led by men determined to rehabilitate their country and develop its resources re- re resources sources agriculturally and ally Let the rest of the world watch to its laurels when the Chinese have achieved their goals Americans need not be smug In our country we have the greatest area of fine farm land that exists on the face of the not earth even excepting the rIch farm lands of the Ukraine If we believe that no other nation is envious of this richest of all her hen toges ye we are living in blissful igno- igno rance It would be easy for us to take takeout takeout out of cultivation the poorest of our farm lands and still support a lation of from the best of our farms Some day we shall need that many people to de defend nd our shores from young strong nations envious of our wealth That is a thought for our formers farmers and business busi busi- ness men an and industrial workers to think bout It is also worth mak ing the Chinese our allie |