mortar which sometimes cracked on drying, as seen in the illustration. The purpose of this careful shaping and plastering we did not learn although our interpreter stated it was to prevent the compost from being appropriated for use on adjacent fields. Such a finish would have the effect of a seal, showing if the pile had been disturbed, but we suspect other advantages are sought by the treatment, which involves so large an amount of labor.
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Fig. 133.—Carefully plastered earth compost stacked in the field awaiting distribution, Shantung, China.
The amount of this earth compost prepared and used
annually in Shantung is large, as indicated by the cases
cited, where more than five thousand pounds, in one
instance, and seven thousand pounds in another, were
applied per acre for one crop. When two or more crops
are grown the same year on the same ground, each
is fertilized, hence from three to six or more tons may
be applied to each cultivated acre. The methods of
preparing compost and of fertilizing in Kiangsu, Chekiang
and Kwangtung provinces have been described. In this
part of Shantung, in Chihli and north in Manchuria as
far as Mukden, the methods are materially different and
if possible even more laborious, but clearly rational and
