HLnovel Chapter 502: A Farming Tool More Advanced Than the Curved Plow
Chapter 502: A Farming Tool More Advanced Than the Curved Plow
After watering the land, wait for it to dry before planting.
This time, the nine tribes planned to plant corn and soybeans.
By intercropping corn and soybeans and making their own fertilizer, the soil fertility can be greatly improved.
They had more than 2,000 acres of land, and although they had built houses and workshops, the court had already compensated them for it.
And I plan to plant Chinese prickly ash trees and sorbifolia trees in the spring.
Although the barren hills have been cleared, the production of military boots, plastic cotton, and military rations cannot be delayed.
It seems like there is endless work to do, but everyone seems to be eager to get started, as if they want to be as busy as possible.
The land compensated by the imperial court was almost out of bounds, and would have occupied the farmland of Yangjia Village.
If you really can't imagine how big the land of the Nine Clans is,
Then Shen Youyou can use the formula to calculate it and tell you.
She couldn't measure the land on foot, but she could calculate it even while sitting at home.
Calculated according to the standard football field, eleven acres of land is the size of a football field, not counting the hill that Shen Youyou bought and the adobe bricks they laid out.
If we only count the flat wasteland that belongs to them, it is as large as one hundred and ninety football fields.
Oh my god, what place is this?
It is Fangshan County, Shuntian Prefecture, and at the foot of Fangshan. If this were to happen in later generations, and such a large piece of land were developed into real estate, the wealth generated would be unimaginable.
But now we have to plow the land, and there are no machines. Bending over to take care of so many fields, even if a person doesn't die of exhaustion, he will be half dead.
Thanks to the "tap water", we save the trouble of using buckets of water to water the fields.
Sometimes, Shen Zhiqiu would think that it was a blessing that he had a good daughter who was smart and could develop so many tools.
If you really carry water bucket by bucket and water it in bucket, your old waist will be in jeopardy.
But even so, there is still a lot of life.
For example, with so much land, even with tools such as a curved plow, a harrow cart, and a sled, it would still be an extremely arduous task to complete the sowing of all the land.
So Shen Zhiqiu turned around and found her daughter, asking her to research a tool that was more convenient than the curved plow and could plow the land faster.
Shen Youyou racked her brains and designed a hand-pushed tiller using the structure of a bicycle. This machine can save time and effort to cultivate the soil.
The structure is very simple, just like a bicycle with only a front wheel. Only the front wheel is retained for easy movement.
The rear is a bicycle handlebar for steering, and the height is just to the waist, which saves time and effort and is easy to hold.
Below is the hoe plowshare, which is detachable and can be equipped with three different plowshares, making it easier and faster to plow the land.
You can also replace the double-furrow plowshare to easily complete the weeding work without damaging the seedlings.
By simply replacing the plowshare, it can be turned into a multi-purpose machine for ploughing, weeding and ditching.
When using it, you only need to push the handlebars and walk in the fields. As the front wheel rotates, the plow head will turn the soil and weeds will be removed by the roots.
Moreover, the entire process does not require oil or electricity. Moreover, since the new tillage tools are lighter and easier to operate, even oxen are not needed. Only one person and one machine can plow six acres of land a day.
As for the arable land, Shen Zhiqiu, who was sowing seeds, did not want to use the previous plow cart.
So Shen Youyou designed a manual seed drill using plastic and steel. The entire machine was made of plastic molds, and the brothers could complete it.
As for the small number of steel parts, they can also be cast and mass-produced.
It will not delay everyone's use, and the production principle is not complicated.
The appearance of this seeder looks very simple. There is a large wheel in front with several spikes evenly installed on it, and an iron wheel at the back as an auxiliary function. When in use, put the seeds such as corn or soybeans that need to be sown into the large funnel above the large plastic wheel, and the seeds will automatically enter the inside of the large wheel in the middle. Then push the seeder, which has gears and chains inside, and a circle of small slots evenly distributed on the outer ring of the wheel.
When the gear drives the chain to rotate, the seeds inside the wheel can be accurately buried in the ground through the slot.
The auxiliary wheels at the back will also cover and compact the soil while pushing.
Of course, the wheel cannot be too heavy. Excessive compaction of the soil will affect the germination rate and time.
This machine saves much more time and effort than the previous plow, and can sow at least six acres of land a day.
With these two new tools, if we make one hundred sets, it will only take three or four days to cultivate two thousand acres of land.
However, in order to buy enough pig iron and make more tools, this tool can be mass-produced faster.
Shen Zhiqiu also had to use his connections to buy more pig iron for them.
Of course, farming tools can be made of wood even without using steel frames.
But Shen Zhiqiu wanted to use steel ingots. First, steel ingot molds could be mass-produced, and the production process was also faster.
Second, of course, it’s because steel is stronger. If we don’t have the ability to develop tractors and other things, this thing will not be eliminated in a short time.
This time he approached the supervisor Qin from the Ministry of Industry, who had supervised their work before, and used the new "bicycle" plow and the blueprint of the seed drill as an exchange.
Ask the other party to arrange people to make 100 bicycle tillers and steel accessories for seed drills for them in the shortest time.
The country is based on its people, and food is the people’s primary need.
Food is the foundation of a country's stability. Only when the people have enough food and clothing can the country become more stable and powerful.
Officials of the Ministry of Industry have always attached great importance to agricultural tools, and the Ministry put a lot of thought into them every year, but there have not been any major breakthroughs.
Since the invention of the curved plow in the Tang Dynasty, the straight and long plows have been changed to curved and short plows, and a freely rotating plow disc has been installed on the plow head, which has made the plow frame smaller and lighter, more flexible to operate, and saved manpower and animal power.
Without cattle, only human power can plow three acres of land in a day.
This was already a huge breakthrough in agricultural farming. Even in later generations, in the 1970s and 1980s, many places still used curved plows.
As for the traditional plow, one ridge or more, up to five ridges, are planted at a time.
It can not only complete the operations of furrowing, sowing and covering soil at one time, but also greatly improve the efficiency of sowing.
At the same time, it can also ensure consistent row spacing, depth, and density.
To be honest, it doesn't matter whether this thing is modified or not, because the efficiency of some plows is already very high.
But there is still a disadvantage, that is, it needs to be pulled by animals and requires more than two people to operate normally. And Shen Youyou's final sowing artifact, each sowing wheel is movable, that is, a group of sowing wheels can be connected into five or more for sowing according to needs,
However, when there is no livestock to pull it, it is recommended to assemble at most three or five. If there are more, livestock will be needed.
Therefore, Qin had no reason to refuse, and he reported the matter and the drawings to the Vice Minister of Works on the same day, who then reported it to the Minister of Works.
The Minister of Works was even more decisive. He went directly into the palace with the blueprints, the Vice Minister of Works, and Qin Zhushi.
"Your Highness, these two new types of agricultural tools can quickly cultivate crops even without oxen. According to Shen Zhiqiu, the set they made experimentally can sow six acres of arable land each day. This is definitely a huge breakthrough in agriculture."
As soon as the Minister of Works finished speaking, even the Prince of Yan and the Crown Prince gasped.
As the head of a country whose main economy is agriculture, he naturally knows what it means if these two tools can really cultivate six acres of land per day as Shen Zhiqiu said.
Even the Prince of Yan stood up, his eyes fixed on the blueprint in the hands of the Minister of Works.
He knew very well what these two tools represented to them in Beiyan!
After the chaos of the Yuan Dynasty's succession to the throne, the economic situation deteriorated sharply due to years of war, natural disasters and poor management.
Agricultural production was affected, food was in short supply, and people's lives were difficult.
Here we have to say that, because the agricultural production order had become chaotic at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty court could only recruit people to farm, and grant officials different ranks based on the number of recruited people.
At the same time, each recruited farmer was given ten ingots of banknotes.
However, this approach proved to be futile. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, local uprisings continued, wars were frequent, and natural disasters occurred frequently.
Agricultural production cannot guarantee an increase in output even in peacetime, let alone in the turbulent late years of a dynasty.
Therefore, even if the agricultural persuasion system is promoted later, it is "closing the fold after the sheep have been sheeped."
Not only did it fail to bring any substantial effect to agricultural production, but the cost of printing agricultural books also placed a burden on the country's financial resources.
In addition, the agricultural officials falsely reported local agricultural output, and treacherous officials took the opportunity to suggest to the rulers to increase taxes. The people did not gain anything, but instead their burden was increased for no reason.
Moreover, due to the war, the Han population dropped sharply, resulting in many remote areas becoming barren.
Even though the Daqing Dynasty had strongly supported agriculture and sericulture since its founding, little progress was made due to the constant disruption by foreign races.
If these two types of farm tools really have such an effect at this time, then his northern border may really be able to unify the world.
Even the Prince of Yan, Zhu Qingyan, who usually kept his emotions to himself, couldn't help but look ecstatic:
"Is it really possible to cultivate six acres a day without using animals?"
This time it was Qin who answered, because Shen Zhiqiu had let him see it with his own eyes.
At this moment, he was also very happy. When he was invited by Shen Zhiqiu to Tangjia Village yesterday, he witnessed the farming process of the two experimental tools.
He didn't believe it either, but after seeing it with his own eyes, he had to believe it. In fact, when he returned home yesterday, he was in a state of extreme excitement.
Although he knew that Shen Zhiqiu must not be offended, and it was even more impossible for him to take the two drawings for himself, he was already extremely happy and excited to be chosen by Shen Zhiqiu as the person to report.
With these two tools, he can not only report the merits but also benefit the people.