Ina country where the poor are in such a majority as in China, and where the fields are altogether open, it is desirable if not necessary to have so: e plan by which property so unprotected can be effectively
fruit begins to show the' smallest sign watched. In every orchard, as goon as the of ripeness, the owner keeps some of his family on guard day and night, until the last apricot, plum, or pear is removed from the trees. "Ihe darker and the more rainy the night, the more is vigilance required, so that family with a bearing orchard is under the most absolute bondage to this property for a lange part of every year ihe same is true of melon-patches or other vegetables at the time when facility of gathering the products of others would be too strong a temptation to the great numbers of those who never know whence the next meal is to come. It is by no means uncommon to see the village dogs scampering across the fields towards i patch of sweet-potatoes, which they will rapidly dig out, and devour with avidity. In China eternal vigilance is always the price of secur-Jing one's crops. During the months of July and August the fields are dotted with little booths some of them over-run with climbing vines, and each of these frail tenements never for a moment deserted until the crops have all been removed. In some regions the traveller will observe these huts built upon a lofty staging so as to command a wide view, and they are often put up even in fields of kaoliang, which would not seem likely to be stolen. But the lofty growth of this stalwart plant is itself a perfect protection to a thief, so that it is much more difficult to watch than crops far lasa elevated from the ground.
Tt is obvious that a cottage in a vine ard," or 'a lodge in a garden of cucumbers," may serve as very convenient trysting places for many purposes, especially for persons who are desirous of holding gambling parties remote from any dwelling and secure from interruption.
Societies for crop-watching are by no means of universal occurrence, but like most other Chinese institutions, are to met with in some districts, while others immediately adjoining may be wholly unacquainted with their working. We have known a district magistrate in trying a ease in which one of the defendants was a professional watcher of the crops, to be completely mystified by the term crop-watcher which had to be explained to him, as if to a foreigner, although he was himself a native of an adjacent province.
The villages which have entered into some one of the associations for the protection of their crops, generally proclaim this fact by painting of white-washing upon the side of some conspicuous temple the four characters "Kuna kan ipso," signifying that the fields are looked after in common. This proposition embodies a meaning which varies in different places. Sometimes it denotes that a certain number of persons are on guard each night, in which case the number (or some number which purports to be the real one) will perhaps be found posted on a temple wall with a view to striking awe into intending depredators (in case they should he persons of education), by showing how numerous are the chances of detection. When a fixed number. of srsons is employed, the expense is shared the village, being in fact a tax upon the land, paid in the direct ratio of the amount of land which each one owns. In other cases the arrangement for guarding standing crops is entered into bya single village, or more probably by a considerable number of contiguous villages. The details are agreed upon at a meeting called for the purpose in some temple convenient to all the villages, and the meeting is attended by representatives of each village interested. At this meeting are settled the steps to be taken in case of the of offenders. This is a matter of importance, being in fuct the pivot upon which the whole machinery turns. If there is weakness in this pivot, the whole machine will be a failure. It must be borne in mind that the reason for the organisation of such a society as this is the fact that'so many poor people everywhere exist whose only resource is to steal. In the consultations preliminary to the organisation of a crop-protecting league, the poor peuple of the various villages concerned have no voice, but they must be considered, for they will contrive to make themselves felt in many disagreeable ways. It will be agreed, that roan owning land in any village belonging to the league is bound to seize and report any person whatever whom he may find stealing the crops of any person, in any of these villages But as this is the weakest point of all such agreements among the Chinese, it is further provided that if any person finds some one stealing, and fails to seize and report the offender, and if the fact of this omission is ascertained, the person guilty of such omission' shall be held to be himself guilty of the theft, and shall be fined as if he were the thief. 'To provide an adequate tribunal to take cognisance ut cases of this sort, the representatives of the several villages' concerned, in public assembly nominate certain headmen from each village, who constitute a court before which offenders are to be brought, and by which fines are to be fixed. When a thief is captured, he is brought to the village, and the men apwriter at one time happened to see for himself, But such cases must be relatively rare. The fines imposed must be paid immediately, and should this be refused or delayed the penalty would be an accusaion at the yamen of the district magistrate, which being backed by all the principal men of the village, or of a group of villages, would be certain to'issue in the punishment of the prisoner,.as the magistrate would be certain to assume that a prosecution of this nature was well grounded, The pone man would have reason to dread ing locked up in a cangue for a month or two, at the busy time of harvest, when itis especially important for him to be at liberty.
he coloured resident of Georgia who complained that.a black man had no chance in that State, being obliged "to work hard all day and steal all night in order to make an honest living," represented a class to be found in all parts of China, and 'a class. which must be taken into' account. Wherever arrangements.are made for the protection of the crops from thieves, it is necessary adjunct of the rules: that. the owners of the fields must follow the judicious plan of Boaz of ancient Bethlehem, who ordered his reapers not to be too careful to gather closely, that the gleamers might not glen in vain, Matters of this sort, even to the length of the stubble which shall he left in the fields, are not infrequently the subject of agreement and of regulation, for they are matters of large importance to many poor people.
districts where the kavliaug plant is cultivated it is common to strip off some of the lower leaves, with a view as one is told, to allowing the the stalks "to breathe" more freely that the grain may ripen better. Where this practice prevails, the day on which the stripping of the leaves shall Vegin is sometimes strictly regulated: by agreement, anid no person, rich or poor is allowed to anticipate the day. But that day any one is at liberty to strip leaves from the fields of any one else, provided he docs not go above the stipulated height on ench plant. These leaves ate much prized as food for animals. The day before the stripping of Kaoliang leaves is to begin, warning. is sounded onthe village gong and the next day all the people make this their main business. Far more important than leaf-s ping is the regulation of the gleaning of cotton. In many parts of China, the cotton crop is the most valuable product of the soil, and. it enjoys the distinction of being perhaps the only article raised in the empire which is to every man, woman and child an absolute necessity." As soon as the cotton-picking season sets in, women and children in the Bi where t] the staple crop are absorbed in this fatiguing labour to the exclusion of almost everything else. With the first frost-falls, the' best of the season thas passed, though the cotton bolls continue to open for a long time afterwards. It is considered to be the prerogative of the poor Find it afler a certain (or rather n very copie to pick cotton wherever they can
uncertain) date, and the determination of this date is settled in some districts by a proclamation of the magistrate himself, for no lesser authority would be heeded. But in other regions this affair like most others Pointed for the purpose are summoned, who is altogether relegated to local agreement, ear the report of the captors, and decide either of a single village, or a group of upon the fine. In cases of special importance, the village gong may be beaten, so as to collect the headmen with the greater celerity. Much will depend upon what kind of aman the culprit, or what the status of the
There are some well-to-do people who are family to which the esprit belongs, may be. not above stealing the crops of others, and such persons are certain to be subjected toa heavy fine by way of ''exemplary damages." The select men who manage these cases have no regular way of punishing offenders but by the infliction ofa fine, though culprits are undoubtedly sometimes tied up and villages with each other." The day upon which it first becomes lawful to pick indiscriminately in any. cotton field, a joyful one for the poor, is called "relaxation of punishment," because the fines are no longer to be enforced, At this time swarms of people are to be seen streaming to the fields, and many people go great distances from home, because the picking there is better. An acquaintance of the writer remarked that his wife had been gone from home for more than ten days gleaning in some region where the crops were better than nearer home, sleeping meantime in
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.