used on the same shank. The mulch-producing blades may have a cutting edge thirteen inches long and a width of nine inches.
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Fig. 132.—Method of using the broad, heavy hoe in producing surface mulch, as seen in Shantung, China.
At short intervals on either hand, along the two
hundred and fifty miles of railway between Tsingtao and
Tsinan, were observed many piles of earth compost
distributed in the fields. One of these piles is seen in Fig.
133. They were sometimes on unplanted fields, in other
cases they occurred among the growing crops soon to be
harvested, or where another crop was to be planted between
the rows of one already on the ground. Some of these
piles were six feet high. All were built in cubical form
with flat top and carefully plastered with a layer of earth
