Show new revolution stirs china as farmers learn modern methods from U SEx S expert pert cultivation limit yield of tiny plots by BARROW LYONS western newspaper union correspondent probably no man ha has s planned practical farming on so vast a scale as dr walter C lowdermilk assistant chief ch je f of 0 i the U S soil conservation service who has just returned from a year in C china na his plans envisage revolutionizing z in the agriculture of chinese provinces the size of several states of freeing several hundred millions ol of farmers from the soil so that they can build new industries tor for china 0 of seeding acres of eroded hillsides hill sides with ir grasses brasses asses 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 service he has helped amerlean american farmers increase the yields of their own fields the average in ell e A A FARMERS WATCH a demonstration in Ami american rican agricultural methods ds in hwang lung shan region of ghensi province at first sk skeptical ep they bee became ame interested when larger harvests proved superiority of yankee ways creased yield in the last IQ years in this country due to soil and weter water conservation has been about 20 per cent in some cases running up to per cent it was this realistic demonstration which led the chinese to borrow him tor for a year the basic reason china has remained a backward country is that it requires tour four farm families to support five families of the population in the united states one farm family raises enough food for five families itself and four others lets put it differently in china acres of cultivated land and that is nearly all that china can find to cultivate supports after a fashion about people in other words less than half an acre per person is used to grow food f for r 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 person for food as in china freeing workers for factories better use 0 of chinas cainas land tor for farming would free millions tor for other pursuits china must industrialize china can do so by freeing men and women from growing food when dr lowdermilk went to C china hina the chinese government gave him astaff a staff of eight agricultural experts for several months he taught them from field manuals in soils agronomy irrigation engineering WITH A DENT BENT STICK for a plow and two donkeys for or power this man turns the soil near biens chul in southern hansu province forestry hydraulic engineering engl and farm economics the methods by which the un united tied states in recent years has made gains in soil conservation and productivity then they went out into the land and got 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 Peng hsien the unit of land measurement in china is the mow about one sixth of an acre about mow on the plain along the river is fertile with plenty of available water the peng river Is diverted to this land by irrigation ditches of carefully laid stones without cement or other bind M 7 I 1 TERRACED SLOPES built with much painful labor are being ruined by erosion as galleys cut through the steep lands this scene Is in the province of ghensi dr lowdermilk is standing in the foreground 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 one third ot of the a area re a can count on a water supply each year another mow on the sides of the lower mountains consist of steep slopes some of them 80 per cent slopes which aie are cultivated but suffering rapid soil erosion about DO mow are too high to tor agriculture but are capable ol of growing forests it if properly cared for and now produce abundant water supply concrete highway needed the farmers have cleared the intermediate ter 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 ol of marketing the sheep from the lower hills or lumber from the higher hills concrete highways will be the answer but in handling the land surface the lessons learned from the tennessee valley experiment point the way to reclamation Peng hsien slen is to be guinea pig county for china dr lowdermilk and his experts laid the foundations lor for a 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 stan sian in the province ot of ghensi an actual demonstration was begun bench terracing that would conserve both soll soil and moisture was put in with improvised plows and tools grass was planted along the 2 x A BULLOCK DRAGGING a stone roller Is the threshing machine for these people in ghensi ridges and crests to stop erosion nut and truit fruit trees were pl 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 stopped chinese farmers from miles around watched at first with deep skeptic cism but in the fall when th the e crops were gathered they came to praise even to ask that similar work be done on their own farms three acre farms one of the great handicaps to modern farming in china lies in the tact fact that farms are all small the average farm in most of china Is about 33 acres in the northwest the tarnis tarn arms is are larger about five acres each this means that modern machinery cannot be used economically unless villages can pool their land and farm cooperatively this is the pattern that Is being a advocated by the chinese government and is beginning to find acceptance cep tance As the tremendously increased efficiency and profit of the use of modern machinery become evident there is no doubt that this type ot of farming will spread as rapidly as machinery can be obtained farm machinery manufacturers take note but there resistance arises from the intense individuality of the chinese farmer he Is even more independent and individualistic then than the american farmer he likes to work his little farm by himself without even hired labor in most cases when farmers try to work together er they generally get to quarreling he feels he is likely not to like the way his neighbor does things Just the same when he be sees the village next to his which has adopted e the new ways ot of farming prospering as he never thought possible he Is moved to giving consideration consider aaion to the advantage of cooperative e action then too he has heard of the strange things that are happening in the cities where cooperative industries have sprung up to make implements of war for chiang kal armies and when he thinks about it tor for a while cooperation becomes worth trying although at first the hazard extreme bombing with NV iab grass seed pe perhaps chaps the most spectacular of 0 the plans developed by dr lowder milk and his experts Is the project for reclaiming almost a third of china which has been ruined f for r cultivation by de deforestation foresta tion and eio erosion these intrepid pioneers propose that after the war when airplanes and pilots become available this land be seeded with clay pellets which contain the seeds of grass and leguminous herbs and hardy trees after the war the chinese hope to drop millions of seeds upon the washed out slopes of china when they are damp and soft alter after rains so BO that the pellets will sink in and stick and the seeds will grow the c hief chief difficulty will be to obtain enough seeds in one year the united states soil conservation service managed to get pounds of grass seed for soil reclamation in J ANOTHER VIEW of terraced land from a greater distance shows the character of this type of cultivation As much of china Is hilly this meth d 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 wander bd 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 beet beef and mutton in great quantities so the program shapes up like this 1 soil conservation through bench terracing and the planting of grass 2 fruit and nut trees for the steeper slopes that should not be farmed with grain or row crops 3 better irrigation 4 reforestation of the mountains and development of water power 5 improvement in fertilizers 6 cooperative farming which makes possible the introduction of modern machinery 7 cement highways to make possible the exchange of products 8 reclamation of eroded hainds with soil saving dams and and 9 beet beef raising for the grassy plains and sheep tor for the hillsides hill sides 1 I have utmost faith aith that the chinese will do these things and solve their own problems said dr lowdermilk der milk they are the best farm ers in the world in the sense that they understand the nature of growing things and are extremely hard working their government is led by men determined to rehabilitate their country and develop its resources agriculturally and industrially let the rest of the world watch to its laurels when the chinese have achieved their goals americans need not be smug idour in our country we have the greatest area of fine farm arm land that exists on the face of 0 the earth not even excepting the rich farm lands of the ukraine it if we believe that no other nation is envious ot of this richest of oil all heritages we are living in blissful ignorance it would be easy tor for us to take out ot of cultivation the poorest ot of our farm lands and still support a population of from the best of our farms some day we shall need that many people to defend our shores from young strong nations envious of our wealth that Is a thought for or our farmers and business men and industrial workers to think about it Is also worth making the chinese our allies |