The group of five worked hard for a while, and by evening they had finally dug up all the potatoes in the two-acre plot.
The main reason was that Chen An was a strong laborer; he took care of one and a half acres of land by himself, so Cheng Yue didn't have to exert much effort.
Sure enough, having a man is really useful!
After digging up all the potatoes, Chen An brought the oxcart, picked up all the potatoes, put them in baskets, loaded them onto the cart, and started transporting them home.
The village head looked at the baskets of potatoes with a mixture of excitement and joy. He glanced at them and already knew roughly how much was produced.
"Cheng Yue, you've really struck gold! These potatoes must weigh at least five or six hundred pounds!"
This is only two-tenths of an acre, yet it can produce such a high yield, which means that the yield per acre can reach two to three thousand catties!
The village head became increasingly alarmed. Compared to corn, sweet potatoes had a higher yield, but the yield per mu was only about a thousand jin, while potatoes were two or three times that of sweet potatoes!
Cheng Yue couldn't estimate the weight, but she thought the village head's estimate was probably accurate, which explained his excitement.
"It was a lucky accident. The traveling merchant said the production was high, and I thought he was lying, but it turned out to be true."
Chen An echoed, "Yes! Not only is the yield high, but it also tastes delicious!"
As expected of the stuff from there, nothing bad can be found! Anyone who knows about this output would find it unbelievable.
The village head nodded repeatedly. Good luck isn't something everyone has, and it's a blessing for their Houshui Village!
"Let's go weigh it first!"
Although he had his own concerns, he still needed to see the scale weighed with his own eyes to feel at ease.
She then followed Chen An ahead of her. Chen An was equally excited. Cheng Yue had only briefly mentioned that potatoes had a high yield, but hadn't gone into details. He was also eager to know exactly how many kilograms they produced.
Cheng Yue smiled and called Chen Tong and Chen Ning to go home together. She saw the two sisters filling a basket with potato vines. Were they going to take them back to feed the pigs and cows?
"Xiaotong and Xiaoning, we don't need these potato vines anymore. Let's leave them in the ground for now and use them as fertilizer later."
Chen Tong and Chen Ning clearly didn't understand. "Mom, these potato vines are growing so well. We were thinking of taking them back to feed the pigs. The pigs will definitely love to eat them!"
Sure enough, she was right! Perfect timing for a science lesson.
Cheng Yue had no choice but to patiently explain: "Potato vines are poisonous and cannot be fed to pigs. Not only can't you eat potato vines, but you also can't eat potatoes that have sprouted or turned green. If you eat them, it can be fatal."
Chen An, who was walking ahead, and the village headman also stopped in their tracks upon hearing this. Potatoes poisonous? What's going on?
Chen Tong and Chen Ning were also a bit dumbfounded, but they immediately dropped the potato vines and ran over to Cheng Yue, "Mom, sweet potato vines are edible, and I haven't seen anyone get poisoned. Aren't they the same? How come the potatoes are poisonous?"
Mother wouldn't scare them; they just couldn't understand it.
Cheng Yue pulled her two daughters to follow Chen An and the village head, only to find that the two of them also looked confused. What could she say about solanine?
After thinking for a moment, he slowly said, "It was that traveling merchant who said that someone ate a sprouted potato, vomited and had diarrhea, and in the end, the person couldn't be saved."
They ate potatoes for a long time without any problems. Later, after trying them with chickens and ducks, they realized that only sprouted, green potatoes and potato vines were poisonous, while normally ripe potatoes were safe to eat.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes grow in the ground, but they're fundamentally different things. We should listen to what others say and not take any risks; things will go wrong if something goes wrong!
She knew the villagers ate sweet potato vines, so she emphasized potato vines. Actually, dried potato vines are not poisonous, but she didn't want to say too much about it, lest anyone take chances.
It would be better to be more explicit and eliminate the possibility of poisoning at its source.
Upon hearing Cheng Yue's words, everyone immediately nodded vigorously. When it came to matters of life and death, who would dare to disobey?
Besides, ripe potatoes are so delicious, who would want to eat sprouted or green potatoes?
The village head exclaimed, "There's so much to it about how delicious food is!"
The group chatted as they walked and soon arrived home. Chen An took out a scale and began to weigh the potatoes. There weren't many, and the weighing was done in no time.
"A total of 540 jin, Uncle Village Head's estimate was spot on!"
The village headman grinned, his face crinkling with smiles. "It really does weigh over 500 jin! Looks like I'm not seeing things!"
Seeing the gleam in the old village head's eyes, Cheng Yue smiled and said, "Uncle Village Head, I still have some potato seeds here. You should plant some too. Sow them in August and you can harvest them in October. This year, you'll have a much bigger harvest!"
The village headman, thinking of the fields planted with crops, stopped smiling. In August, there was no land available for planting!
"I'm afraid we can't plant this year. The crops in the fields won't be ready for harvest until October. It seems we'll have to wait until next spring to plant."
What a pity! If only I had left two acres to plant potatoes, we would have had a bumper harvest today! But it'll be the same if we plant them next year!
There was nothing Cheng Yue could do about not having land to cultivate; no one can conjure land out of thin air.
Wait, what about clearing the land?
Anyway, she was thinking of planting potatoes on a large scale, so the more land the better!
"Uncle Village Head, is it feasible to reclaim this wasteland?"
To everyone's surprise, the village head sighed softly, "The imperial court does encourage land reclamation, but it's not that easy!"
Most of the land in our village is along the river. If we want to reclaim land, we can only do so on the mountains. However, the mountains are full of miscellaneous trees, weeds, and rocks, making it difficult and time-consuming to clear them.
Moreover, the newly cleared land can't grow crops at first; it takes several years of careful maintenance before it's usable. Everyone is already struggling financially, so nobody wants to go there.
Their village has many mountains and little land. He had thought about reclaiming wasteland, but everyone was struggling to feed themselves, so how could they have the leisure to reclaim wasteland? It was still barren land that hadn't yielded any crops for years, so he simply couldn't persuade them to do so.
Cheng Yue thought to herself: No wonder even when the imperial court provided subsidies in ancient times, very few farmers were willing to reclaim wasteland. It seems that she was thinking too simply.
However, the issue of the village's limited land also needs to be addressed. Just as Cheng Yue was about to say a few more words, the village head changed the subject, "But now everyone's lives are better, so they should be able to get people to come! I'll go to each household tomorrow and talk to them."
Land is the lifeblood of farming families. Even if it cannot be used now, it can be left to future generations to cultivate.
Life used to be tough, and people didn't have the energy or the motivation to clear land. But things are different now! Everyone has money in their hands and can eat three meals a day. What's the point of saving up so much energy? It's better to clear land!
Cheng Yue was overjoyed; the village head had convinced himself, so she didn't need to say anything!
“Uncle Village Head, actually I wanted everyone to cultivate the wasteland. After all, our village does have very little land, and now that we have such high-yield grain, it would be a waste not to plant more.”
The village head was both surprised and delighted. "Growing potatoes is great! Cheng Yue, how much do you want for these potato seeds?"
With such a high yield, it's impossible for anyone in the village not to want to grow it, since one acre of potatoes is equivalent to three acres of corn!
I just wonder how much silver Cheng Yue paid for such good seeds?
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