Chapter 353 Finalizing High-Yield Crops
Shen Qing's eyes fell on the sweet potatoes and potatoes in the mall.
The planting time of the two is basically the same. According to the lunar calendar, they are both planted at the end of March or the beginning of April and harvested in September.
Under the same soil fertility management conditions, the yield of sweet potatoes per mu is about 5,000 to 6,000 kilograms, and the yield of potatoes per mu is about 3,000 to 4,000 kilograms. In terms of taste and eating methods, Shen Qing personally prefers potatoes.
And it doesn't matter how much potatoes you eat as a staple food, but eating too many sweet potatoes will cause heartburn - that is, a burning sensation in the stomach. From a scientific point of view, this is because the starch, sugar, fiber and other ingredients in sweet potatoes stimulate excessive secretion of gastric acid, which affects gastric acid reflux.
However, Jincheng is located in the north and can only grow one crop a year.
What does an extra 2,000 kilograms of yield per mu mean? It means it can feed several more people in a year!
If you can't even fill your stomach, what's the point of talking about taste and how to eat it? After all, even if you can fry, you still need oil, and you can't cook without oil.
Only steaming and boiling are allowed.
Heartburn is even easier to cause if you eat too much. Firstly, people don't eat much. Even if the sweet potato production is huge, as the food they rely on for survival, they will only eat enough to satisfy their hunger. They will also add a lot of wild vegetables to cook and eat together. They will not eat it alone.
Secondly, the antidote must be found within three steps, which means just eating the sweet potato with the skin. This is even simpler for farmers. Many elderly people in China are reluctant to peel the sweet potatoes, thinking it is a waste, let alone the poor people of this dynasty.
Yes, the only target audience for sweet potatoes in this dynasty were the poor people. Officials and the rich could afford refined rice and white flour regardless of whether there was a food shortage or not.
But the people are the foundation of the entire dynasty. Only when they are well fed can the world be stable!
She understood this principle, the court officials understood it, and the emperor understood it even more.
If someone discovered a crop that was extremely high in yield, easy to grow, and very filling, the one who would be most happy would surely be the emperor!
Then isn't it reasonable that the person who discovered and reported such crops would be rewarded?
Shen Qing decided, it’s sweet potato!
As for why it is not the same as sweet potato and potato?
The reward she received for discovering something would make many people jealous. She discovered two crops with a yield of several thousand kilograms per mu. I'm afraid she didn't think she died quickly enough.
In the next few days, Shen Qing bought various books, ranging from seedling cultivation to plowing and planting, from fertilizing to weeding... Fortunately, there were few pests, which was really critical.
After a thorough study, the most surprising thing is that sweet potato vines are not only edible by humans, but can also be fermented after harvest, which has higher nutritional value and can be preserved for a long time!
Like silage, it is simply high-quality feed and is perfect for feeding chickens, ducks, pigs, donkeys, cattle and sheep.
The more Shen Qing looked, the more excited he became. Later, he began to think about where to find it in the forest and how to grow enough sweet potato seedlings to cover dozens of acres of land...
*
After enough bricks and tiles were carried, everyone, except those working in the workshop and learning embroidery, started to go to the fields to open up wasteland.
The land was still frozen at the end of January, so it was impossible to plow it. However, land reclamation is not just about plowing. The first step is to clear all kinds of things on the land before plowing.
We had already gained experience in cultivating vegetable fields last autumn, and when we went to the fields this spring, we were obviously much more skilled.
First, all the trees and shrubs on the wasteland are cut down, and the roots are dug out after thawing. The big trees are left untouched, so they can be used to cool down during summer work. The roots of the big trees are so tangled that cleaning them up is time-consuming and laborious, and may not be effective.
Then came the stones. I picked up all the stones that were visible and put them into the backpack I brought with me. I used a hoe or shovel to pick up the stones that were shallowly buried in the ground and threw them into the backpack.
As for the stones, they are also useful. They are all piled on both sides of the road that is to be built in the village. When there is free time, they will start to build the stone road!
After working for more than half a month, the people working in the village could hardly straighten their backs.
Zheng Hui and a group of women supported their waists and found Shen Qing. They spoke without the usual vigor and energy, and were quite weak: "Shen Qing, do you have any lard residue? Can you sell some to us?"
"Forget it if there is no more. If there are any extra ones, we will buy them!" Wang Xiaohua said quickly.
It’s really not okay to do physical work every day without any food in your stomach!
At the end of last year, we did have a lot of meat, but we had so many people at home, and we had to flee, open up wasteland, build houses, etc., which had damaged our health to some extent. We felt sorry for our family, so we wanted to nourish them more, so we cooked a few more meals of meat;
Part of the pork bought before the New Year was made into big meat buns as dry food for the men who were away from home, and the other part was added during the past half month of clearing land. After saving again and again, there were only a few pounds of meat left at home.
They heard from their family members in the workshop that they could sometimes eat lard stew at noon, so they asked with the mentality of giving it a try.
Zhao Mingyue, Zhou Yan and others were also looking forward to it from behind, swallowing their saliva from time to time.
The old and the young work from morning to night, and it is physical work. Who doesn’t want to have a good meal?
Lard residue is better than meat in terms of oil and water!
Shen Qing's family has no shortage of meat. After all, there is a mall, and he can especially buy pork fat, which he can add from time to time. In addition, he can also add laying hens, ducks, geese, lamb, game, pork and pig offal. Not only will he not lack meat throughout the winter, he can also make delicious food in different ways.
At this moment, when he heard that Zheng Huiwang Xiaohua and a group of women in charge of cooking wanted to buy lard scraps, he remembered that the reason why his family had no shortage of laying hens, ducks and geese was because his second son was getting married, and the people in the village all gave him three or four chickens, ducks, geese and hundreds of eggs as gifts!
She hurriedly said, "There are some extra, but each family can only get two or three pounds at most. Isn't that a bit too little?"
Zheng Huixi smiled and said, "It's quite a lot! Half a pound of lard can make a big pot of cabbage or radish. Eat it for two meals, and you'll have oil in your daily diet."
Two or three pounds can make five or six meals, and you can add them in every few days, and you don’t have to worry about how to nourish your family for ten days.
Zhou Yan said with great satisfaction, "We still have about ten pounds of meat at home. Although most of it is game and not very oily, it is still meat. Now I have the oily lard. When we combine it with the other meats, I don't have to worry about food for more than half a month!"
She could prepare a meal without meat or vegetables, but who in her family didn't like meat? And after a day's work, she herself wanted to eat meat and vegetables.
The other women all breathed a sigh of relief.
When Shen Qing heard Zhou Yan mention half a month, he thought to himself that it was only early February now, and he should wait for the men who were away to come back before he could start plowing the land.
The next step is to level the land, apply fertilizer, and plant... It only takes half a month to complete the task. This amount of money is not enough!
"I've contacted the butcher in town, and he's saved some pork fat for me. I'll bring it back someday, and then each family can get a few more pounds!"
Many women felt their bent waists straighten immediately!
"Okay, since we're going, why not bring some more people and buy some pork?"
"Yes, even pig offal or pork shanks are fine. They're cheap and affordable, and they're also meat, right?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
