Wellmann Imre szerk.: A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 1971-1972 (Budapest, 1973)

Steensberg, Axel: The practice of tilling spades in Asia and Europe

farming. And from early time the main tools were adapted to these two agricultural systems. In China as well as in Korea and Japan rake-hoes original^ made entirely of wood were used for deep tilling of the soil, and were especially well suited for use in the rice fields because the compact wooden hoe without an iron mounting would be too heavy when the muddy soil adhered to its edge. However, when the broad hoe was shod with iron later on its straight edge was adapted to the rice fields. In the loose soils of North China rake-hoes were never commonly in use. In North China one could until recently observe people pulling the spadeplough Lei-si, the square edge of which was pushed into the ground with the aid of the hands and a foot. Then it was twisted like a cas-chrom to the right or the left side, the furrow it produced being a little more broad than behind a normál digging spade which could also be used. The depth of the furrows ma.de in North China was the same as for the furrows of the Near East, about 10 cm. Consequently in years of severe drought the humidity was not preserved in sufficient quantity. Because East Asia is a region with summer rain, years of drought were particularly dangerous and caused thousands of people to die from hunger, in spite of the existence of very early text books of improved farming. One of them — however not the oldest one — is "Chihming-yaoshu" written about 540—550 A. D. in Chin-tiou in the Shantung province where the Highlands face the Hwang-ho plain. It describes the dry-farming cultivation of millet by means of hand-hoeing and sowing after the horse-hoe or drill without wheels but fitted with two or three shares. Probably this implement was developed from a hand drill pulled by ropes known from pictograms of the Shang or Yin period (1557—1122 B. C)? And this two pronged hand-tool was successively included in the Chinese ideogram for plough — obviously because drill sowing of the seed by this tool was the most important work in times before the introduction of rice-growing in wet paddocks. In the time when Chihming-yaoshu was written the distance between the drills in which the grains of millet were sown by hand was so great that it was possible to hand-hoe or even horse-hoe between them, i.e. at least 25—30 cm. or the same distance as normally found between prehistoric ard-furrows in Europe. When the young plants were already rising above the ridges, the handhoeing should start, and it should be done so many times that there would hardly be a single weed-plant left. In the beginning one could cross-harrow after rain in order that the dry crust should be broken, starting with the irontoothed harrow and later on continuing with the soft "knot-harrow", and when the plants had reached c. 30 cm. height the cultivation with the sharp spade should be done and repeated three times. Obviously the method of handhoeing between ridges was adapted to the dry climate, because the author says that the horse-hoeing enforces the vitality and stimulates the growth of the young plants. But thereafter the soil will be baked up to a hard mass again, lose moisture and be difficult to plough. If the hand-hoeing could be done five times or more there would be no need for horse-hoeing. But if horsehoeing is done it is necessary to start shortly after harvest to cut the stubbleground with the sharp spade so that it would conserve plenty of moisture and be easy to till, and at that time the horse-hoe or drill-plough will be of no use.