Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 571 Spring Day (Part 3)

May 3, 1643, Taiyuan Fort (now Stockton, California).

In May, the sunlight in the Central Valley has gained some strength, shining brightly on the vast and boundless plains.

A gentle, warm breeze swept across the newly turned, fertile soil, caressing this land that was named the "Taiyuan Colonization Zone".

On this field, which was once only covered with weeds and shrubs, a reassuring green is now spreading out – the first batch of more than 400 mu of Xinzhou cotton (i.e. American cotton) planted in Taiyuanbao has sprouted and is swaying gently in the spring breeze.

The tender green cotton seedlings have been sprouting for more than half a month, stretching out their two plump cotyledons under the sun, like countless little hands embracing this unfamiliar sky.

They are planted in neat rows with clearly defined furrows, clearly the result of careful sowing.

"Everyone, be careful with your work! Keep the strong ones and discard the weak ones, keep the big ones and discard the small ones. Leave two to three of the strongest seedlings per foot, and make sure the spacing between them is even!" A middle-aged man wearing a slightly worn Xinhua military uniform with rolled-up trousers stood on the edge of the field, giving loud instructions in Xinhua Mandarin with a heavy Shandong accent.

His name is Chen Qingshan. He was originally an agricultural official in the Ministry of Agriculture, and now he is the person in charge of this "experimental cotton field".

Under his guidance, the farmers carefully squatted between the ridges of the field, their fingers moving among the tender seedlings, removing those that were too weak, crowded, or had yellow leaves.

The uprooted cotton seedlings were casually tossed into a wicker basket nearby; they would become livestock feed or compost.

More than ten days after the cotton seedlings emerged, they were carrying out a meticulous task—thinning and fixing the seedlings.

“Father, the seedlings of this Xinzhou cotton look a little different from those in our hometown,” a young man of seventeen or eighteen said to the taciturn old man beside him, straightening up.

His name is Shen Shuisheng, and he comes from Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture.

The old man, Shen Quanfu, did not answer immediately. He gently picked up a weak seedling that had been pulled out with his calloused fingers, and then carefully examined a healthy cotton seedling that had been kept.

The so-called Xinzhou cotton seems to have thicker and more robust stalks than the cotton stalks from my hometown, and the color is also darker, a purplish-brown.

Although the shapes of the cotyledons are similar, they seem to be thicker to the touch.

“Yes, they are quite different.” Shen Quanfu finally spoke, his voice low. “The cotton seedlings in my hometown have greener stems and leaves, and are also more slender. This Xinzhou cotton looks much more robust.”

He looked up at the clear blue sky and the blazing sun. "The sun here is too scorching, and there's so little rain. I'm afraid only a tough guy like this can withstand it."

These immigrants were recruited by the Xinhua Colonization and Immigration Department from their turbulent hometown of Suzhou and Songjiang, where cotton fields were vast but taxes were heavy, to this unfamiliar continent thousands of miles away. The department offered generous terms such as "forty mu of land per adult, three years of tax exemption, and additional grain and silk subsidies for skilled cotton growers."

The image of cotton fields in my hometown is still faintly in my mind. There, the river network is dense, the spring rain is continuous, and when the seedlings are thriving, the whole field is full of bright green.

Here, the vastness of the land is unsettling, and the soil is fertile but so dry that it requires irrigation from rivers and ponds to nourish the crops in the fields.

“What good is being tough?” A dark-skinned, thin man on the ridge next to him chimed in. His name was Wang Laogen, and he was originally a cotton farmer from Jiading County, Suzhou Prefecture. “Look at these seedlings, they’re sparse. Even if we leave enough space between plants, the number of seedlings per acre will be less than back home. I’m afraid the bolls won’t be much more abundant in the future.”

His tone carried the instinctive skepticism of an old hand towards the unknown.

In Jiading, they cultivate the precious Susong cotton (also known as Asian cotton or Chinese cotton), emphasizing meticulous farming techniques.

Unlike here, the land is so vast that it seems to stretch to the horizon, and the forests are so dense that they are impenetrable. Working in the fields is done with a pioneering, unrefined spirit.

"Don't underestimate our Xinzhou cotton!" Chen Qingshan walked over, holding several weak seedlings that had just been pulled up. "These cotton seedlings were previously planted on a large scale in the western barbarian lands to the south. They are known for their drought and barren soil tolerance, something your Suzhou-Songjiang cotton can't compare to. Look at these root systems..."

He picked up a seedling and pointed to its main root, which was clearly more developed than that of the Su Song cotton. "Look, this root can go deep and absorb moisture and nutrients from below. Here, rain is scarce in the summer, and we rely entirely on irrigation from the canals. The roots of this cotton seedling are our lifeline."

As Chen Qingshan spoke, he tossed aside the cotton seedling in his hand and patted the soil off his palm: "The yield per plant of Xinzhou cotton may not be as high as that of Susong cotton, but we have a lot of land, so we can increase the total yield by planting extensively and harvesting less."

"Moreover, a lot of money was spent on this cotton field before planting. Bird droppings fertilizer was transported from the islands by the sea and spread in a thick layer. Why? It was to make up for the poor soil fertility and the shortcomings of the early varieties."

"The thinning and fixing of seedlings we are doing now is the first time we have carried out such meticulous management, so that every seedling that is left has enough space, sunlight and fertilizer to grow as much as possible."

Shen Quanfu nodded silently. He noticed that the ridges in this cotton field were made particularly wide, and the row spacing was also much larger than in his hometown, presumably to accommodate the more expansive plant shape of the Xinzhou cotton, and to facilitate the legendary "animal-powered cultivation" in the future.

The black powder piled up beside the field ridges, emitting a strange smell, was what the agricultural official called "bird droppings fertilizer." In Xinhua, this was a precious commodity, said to be equivalent to several times the amount of farmyard manure.

"Furthermore, the sunshine in Yongning far surpasses that of Jiangnan." Chen Qingshan shielded his eyes from the scorching sun and continued, "In the summer, it's even drier and more breathable here, with very few of the continuous rainy days of the plum rain season found in the Suzhou-Songjiang region. This Xinzhou cotton is extremely drought-resistant and loves sunlight, which is perfect for this climate."

Just then, a commotion came from the edge of the field in the distance.

There were several agricultural technicians lying on the edge of the field observing the growth of the cotton seedlings, writing something in their notebooks, and occasionally measuring the seedling height and spacing with a ruler.

Some farmers found it very strange, frequently turning their heads to look over, their eyes wide with astonishment.

Why would someone with a pen try to learn about the knowledge involved in growing crops in the fields?
Seeing this, Chen Qingshan smiled slightly, put his hands behind his back, and walked over with a grin.

“Area A, Row 7, Sample Plant 4, seedling height 2.3 inches, cotyledon spread 1.5 inches, stem as thick as a chopstick, purplish-brown in color, no disease spots…”

"Hmm, not bad, not bad, very detailed!" Chen Qingshan nodded approvingly after reading it, "You even noticed the color of the seedling stems, you're incredibly meticulous!"

The agricultural technician, after receiving praise from Chen Qingshan, looked embarrassed and smiled shyly: "Your Excellency, this is all recorded according to the 'Cotton Trial Planting Observation Procedures' issued by the Ministry. In the past, the teachers at the Agricultural College also told us that the effort of 'investigating things to acquire knowledge' must be put into practice in the smallest details."

"We can't just rely on the experience of old farmers to guess the nature of Xinzhou cotton; we have to 'draw' it out with data. From the sowing depth and the number of days after emergence, to the daily changes in plant height, number of leaves, stem color, and even the dates of budding, flowering, boll formation, and fluffing, all changes must be recorded in detail."

He flipped to the first few pages of the booklet and pointed to the densely packed tables and annotations: "Sir, look, these are comparisons of the growth of cotton seedlings in different plots of land, due to slight differences in the amount of bird droppings fertilizer applied before sowing. The A plot has the most fertile soil, and the seedlings are noticeably robust; the C plot is slightly less fertile, and the seedlings are somewhat thinner."

"I will record them all, and after autumn I will be able to calculate the most appropriate fertilizer ratio, so as not to waste the soil's fertility or squander the precious fertilizer."

Another agricultural technician, Li Tong, added, "We've also set several spacing options: two plants per foot, two and a half plants, three plants per foot... We're testing these on different plots. We want to see what density, in this central valley, will allow the Xinzhou cotton plants to produce more bolls per plant and also increase the total number of bolls per acre."

Chen Qingshan nodded in approval repeatedly.

Although he was a "latecomer" to agricultural officialdom, he had at least undergone more than a year of training at the Ministry of Agriculture's training institute and was well aware of the power of this "data-driven farming method."

This is no longer the old approach of "farming is something we don't need to learn, we just do what others do," but rather we must transform farming into a profound discipline that can be accumulated, optimized, and passed down.

The "agricultural college" mentioned by the agricultural technician was the newly established agricultural college in New Zealand University College three years ago, which enrolls students who have graduated from senior secondary schools and specializes in studying agricultural planting theories.

Of course, the teaching staff and teaching materials used were not very comprehensive. More than half of the instructors were old farmers selected from various places. They were then taught agricultural knowledge by supplementing their lessons with textbooks such as "Fan Shengzhi's Book", "Qimin Yaoshu", "Wang Zhen's Agricultural Book", "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration", and "Xinhua Agricultural Book", which was compiled based on the planting experience summarized by many farmers.

However, this agricultural college is the first institution of higher learning in the world to specialize in the study and learning of agricultural production, setting a historical precedent.

No one expected that agriculture, which has been passed down for thousands of years, would be incorporated into the scientific field for the first time, with a systematic and scientific place for research and study, and students being taught and guided on a large scale.

“Very good! In Xinhua farming, we don’t just rely on the calluses on our hands, we also rely on this…” He pointed to his head, then to the agricultural technicians’ notebooks, “and this. Every record we make now is paving the way for future generations. This year we’ve figured out the ins and outs of Xinzhou cotton, so we can grow it even better next year. By continuously selecting and breeding varieties year after year, we can cultivate good varieties that are both drought-resistant and high-yielding, with long fibers!”

The farmers in the fields felt uneasy watching the meticulous manner of these agricultural technicians.

Is making a living by digging in the soil a kind of knowledge?
In their understanding, farming experience is passed down orally, and good or bad depends entirely on intuition; a bad year can only be attributed to the weather.

This is the first time I've ever seen a cotton seedling be broken down and meticulously recorded from birth to death like this.

Although Wang Laogen still found it somewhat "mysterious," looking at the earnestness of the young men and Chen Nongguan's confident expression, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "If they can really write a high-yield method with a pen, that would be truly extraordinary!"

As the sun gradually set, it cast long shadows on the wooden fence and newly built houses around Taiyuan Fort, while wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys.

The migrants, having finished their work, carried their farm tools and dragged their weary bodies toward the gradually forming settlement.

Shen Quanfu looked back and saw vast cotton fields rippling with soft green waves in the evening breeze. Each cotton seedling stood tall and straight, carrying the skills and hopes of the farmers from Suzhou and Songjiang, as well as the deep yearning of this newly established nation for a prosperous future.

"Grow well," he murmured to himself, "and make a name for ourselves on this new land."
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(End of this chapter)