How Intensive Farming is Carried on.—In Shantung small fields and gardens seem to be the rule rather than broad fields such as we saw in Aleppo. This is no place for complicated farming machinery; it is the land of the hoe. In southern Shantung, both men and women are wading about in rice fields, pulling up weeds and repair ing little dams in the irrigation channels. Elsewhere the chief crops are wheat, millet, Indian corn, and vegetables. Some of the people are carefully carrying refuse to the fields in pails to serve as fertilizer; others are hoeing the ground for a new crop after radishes, beans, or peas have been harvested. Still others are setting out seedlings that have been raised in beds as our greenhouse men raise tomatoes and pansies. Thus two or three crops are often procured where we would raise only one.
How the Monsoon People Supply their own Needs.—So busy are the people that they scarcely take time to sleep. Even in winter they work harder than the peasants of most countries. In their homes they weave cloth, make rope, and prepare their crude utensils.
They also economize in every possible way. For example, they mend their clothes till the patches hide all the original cloth. It would seem as if manufacturing ought to thri4e among such people, but in recent centuries they have not shoi:vn much inventiveness, and hence man ufacturing has made little progress. Accordingly it would seem as if the enormous population of China would offer a fine market for cheap cloth, knives, hoes, and other inexpensive manufactured articles. The only trouble is that because the people are so numerous and un inventive, they are wretchedly poor and have only slight purchasing power.
The Effect of Winter Rain and Summer Drought in Subtropical Regions.—As we have already seen, the striking difference between the provinces of Aleppo and Shantung on the two sides of Asia is due largely to the rainfall—not the amount, for in that respect Shantung has only a slight advantage, but the season at which it falls. In Fig. 94 compare diagrams A and B, showing how much rain falls each month in the two regions.
In the subtropical climate of Aleppo abundant rain normally falls during the winter from November to March, but the summer from June to September is practically rainless. Hence corn, beans, pota toes, and most vegetables will not grow well without irrigation. The same is true of oats, rye, millet, and the kinds of wheat and bar ley that are planted in the spring. On the other hand, winter wheat and barley grow excellently without irrigation. The seed is sown in October and November, when the rains first become abundant; it sprouts before the weather is cold, grows a little during the mild, open winter, and is ready to grow rapidly in March, April, and May.
The dryness from May onward is favorable to ripening, and makes the work of harvesting easy, since there is little trouble from storms. The fields of stubble furnish pasture for animals during the dry sum mer when other pasturage is especially difficult to find.
The Effect of Summer Rain and Winter Drought in Monsoon Regions.—Look again at Fig. 94, and note the contrast between diagrams A and B. When the subtropical rainfall of Turkey is coming to an end in May, the monsoon rainfall of China is begin ning. China gets its rain in the warm season when it is most needed. That is why the population is so dense. Since the rains fall on moun tains and plains alike, all the land that is not too steep can be culti vated. There is no room for roads or for cattle, and the whole coun try is a vast patchwork of gardens. Wheat and barley thrive best in the north; millet, corn, beans, and root crops like beets and turnips grow excellently everywhere; while rice flourishes in the south. Millet and rice are the staple foods in such a climate. They yield enormous returns under intensive cultivation., This type of agri culture is highly characteristic of monsoon regions and is another reason why they are able to support so large a population.
Why Famines Occur in Regions of Seasonal Rainfall.—In one respect subtropical and monsoon countries are alike. Both are particularly liable to famines. To begin with monsoon countries, famines are worst in China and in India. Long ago in the years 1344 and 1345 India experienced such a terrible famine that even the Mogul emperor is reported to have been unable to obtain sufficient food for his huge household. As recently as 1877 five million people are said to have perished from hunger in India, and almost ten million in northern China, while in every recent decade millions of people have suffered. In both countries the reason for the famines is the same. Since practically all the people are closely dependent upon agriculture, the prosperity of the whole country depends upon a short season of abundant rain in summer. Every few years the rains are either scanty or come so late that the crops cannot mature before the end of the growing season. Sometimes the delayed rains pour down in such a deluge that they flood the rice fields too deeply and destroy the prospects of those seemingly fortunate ones who have been able to start their crops by means of irrigation. Elsewhere the heavy rains gully the slopes and carry away the precious soil that should raise the crops of future years. Disasters by flooding are most severe in China, while the failure of the rains has probably produced the worst effects in India.