Tumen; its total annual production is close to 30,000,000 pounds. Both the hemp and the jute produced in Manchuria are mostly for domestic consumption: less than 20 per cent. of them come on the market. Tobacco is grown in the neighborhood of the City of Kirin and in other sections of Manchuria, but almost entirely for home consumption. Large tobacco factories established in Manchuria with foreign capital use the domestic leaf, but always in company with imported leaf in the manufacture of cigarettes. Cotton cultivation in Manchuria centers at Liaoyang. It extends to the Chinchou district to the west and to Tiehling on the north. Of late quite an effort is being made to try out the possibilities of American upland cotton at various districts south of Hsiungyaocheng and especially in the Japanese Leased Territory of Kwantung. The result seems to be encouraging. There is not the remotest chance of South Manchuria rivaling the valley of the Nile, of course; but at the same time, it is highly probable that it may produce, in a comparatively short period of time, sufficient raw cotton to answer the demand created by such cotton mills as Japanese enterprise and capital are planting in that section of the country. Sugar beets in Manchuria are another crop rich in future possibilities. It is, indeed, quite new; but the South Manchuria Sugar Refining Company has thoroughly tested the fitness of the soil near the city of Mukden. The result of extensive experiments which have been carried on at the Agricultural Experimentation Station since 1914 are highly satisfactory. The average percentage of sugar in the Manchurian beets is 15.34. FRUIT TREES AND ORCHARDS Southern Manchuria is destined to be a great fruit belt of the Far East. There is nothing new in this claim. The southern section of the Liao Valley, the country near Chinchou to the west of the river and all along the eastern bank from Liaoyang to Kaiping, have for centuries been famed for their fruits among the natives of the country and in the southern markets of China proper. Foreigners have persistently insisted that Chinese and Japanese fruits lack two qualities when compared with their American or European namesakes: flavor and aroma. Not so with the Manchurian fruits. There are five good climatic reasons for this: 1, In Southern Manchuria, in the valley of the Liao, the rise of temperature in the spring is rapid and the heat attains a higher degree than in many other sections of Eastern Asia. 2, In summer time, moisture is low. 3, Here the sun shines for a greater number of hours than elsewhere in fruiting season. 4, The rainfall in fruiting time is comparatively small. 5, The early frost. The leading fruits are pears, grapes, apples, peaches, apricots, pomegranates, and cherries; of which pears and grapes are the prize fruits with the Chinese. Naturally enough, these two fruits have been developed much more than the rest. It may be added in passing that the reason why the Manchurian fruits have not won greater fame and achieved wider conquest is because the Chinese method of fruit-tree culture is exceedingly primitive, careless, and unscientific. Pears are one of the most favored fruits with the Chinese and are produced in comparatively large quantity to satisfy extensive demand. They are of two kinds; one of which has flesh like the Japanese variety, hard and lumpy, although very juicy. Indeed, it is highly probable that the Japanese pears are nothing more or less than adventurous immigrants from Manchuria, and in their adopted home have lost some of the flavor because of the excessive humidity of Japan. There are many authorities who assert that the original home of all the Asian pears is right here in the valley of the Liao. The other type of Manchurian pears is more like the Californian variety, with soft, mellow flesh which when ripe melts in the mouth, very sweet and juicy. The pear, like a number of other fruits, is receiving a good deal of attention from the Japanese experts connected with the South Manchuria Railway and with the Japanese administration of the leased territory. There are a number of large orchards established near Port Arthur and Dairen now which are experimenting with the fruit-growing possibilities of that section of South Manchuria. The interesting feature of this work is that the men who are taking active part in this work are Japanese orchardists who have had years of experience in California. A number of these men who have been driven out of their holdings in California through hostile legislation there, have entered Manchuria. They are men of ample capital, most of them. They sold out their American holdings and are investing the funds in Manchuria. Manchuria is gainer therefore in a double sense. These men have come to her rich with years' experience in the most up-to-date methods of fruit-growing. And in addition they have come with funds which in the aggregate amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars, accumulated through their toilsome years in America. I went out to see Mr. Awaya's 108-acre orchard just outside of the City of Dairen. Mr. Awaya had sold his orchards in California. He could have retired to a life of ease and ample comfort in his beloved Nippon with the money he got for his American holdings. He is a young man, not quite five and thirty. Last year, I saw him working side by side with his hired Chinese coolie in his young orchard. So instead of seeking a life of ease, he had thrown his lot with this land of the Future. He is now sinking something like a couple of hundred |