Chapter 73 Spring Plowing
Under the warm sunshine and the gentle spring breeze, the entire Weisen collar was busy.
The newly arrived residents are reclaiming farmland, trees are being cut down on the canal construction site, craftsmen are busy in the workshops, and the cargo ships that have just docked at the dock are unloading goods. Everything is full of vitality. A vigorous scene.
In a manor, several farmers dragged a magic reciprocator and a large winch to the edge of the field. On the other side of the field, someone was playing with a plow.
The long hemp rope on the winch was hooked to the plow truck, where the magic reciprocator was connected to the winch and fixed to the ground with an iron solder.
As the machine started, the winch rotated, the hemp rope was straightened, and then the plow truck with six plowshares was dragged forward, leaving behind the plowed fields.
A group of birds immediately descended from the sky. They were not afraid of people at all. They followed closely behind the plow truck and pecked at the insects dug out of the soil.
A row of fields was plowed quickly, many times faster than before.
The plow truck quickly turned around. A frame with pulleys had been fixed on the opposite side of the field, and another long hemp rope was ready. It was just waiting for the hemp rope on the winch to be pulled over and connected through the iron hook. Can pull the plow truck to the other end.
A set of such machines is many times faster than using horses to plow fields. If it is time to farm, you can also install a magic lamp to work at night, while the horses must rest.
Outside a nearby greenhouse, Frederick was studying today's temperature in front of a bimetal thermometer.
He has never been able to understand the climate here. In the early morning at the end of January, it was still around 0 Webster degrees. At the end of early February, it suddenly reached 10 Webster degrees. Then it slowly rose with upward fluctuations. Now It was around 15 Webster degrees in early March.
This allows the winter snow to melt in a short time, and the snow water rushes into the river all at once, causing floods downstream.
The snow last winter was unprecedentedly heavy, so there were major floods downstream in the spring.
Frederick looked outside for a while and then walked into a greenhouse. Professor Matthias was supervising the students and farmers to dig out the potatoes that had sprouted in the field and prepare to transplant them into the field.
The potatoes Mrs. Sophie brought back were planted in a vat. They were not well cared for on the ship and did not grow very well. They were not much bigger than eggs.
According to what she said and the planting methods and pictures she brought back that have been translated five times, normal potatoes should be as big as a fist.
Frederick had never farmed, but a construction site in his previous life was in a suburban development zone. Migrant workers and their families planted various vegetables wherever they could around the prefabricated houses.
Even the flowerbeds of the project department were filled with tomatoes. Later, the project department wrote an eight-part article about overcoming difficulties and ensuring vegetable self-sufficiency in difficult areas and it was posted on the public account. The article did not mention the largest local vegetable plant at all. The wholesale vegetable market is just 900 meters away.
He still knows how to grow potatoes. Now the sprouts on the potatoes have more or less sprouted, but they are too small to cut into pieces and separate for planting.
He squatted next to the potatoes he took out and said to Mathias: "Keep the three largest buds on the top. I remember that the buds are poisonous and must be disposed of in time."
After finishing speaking, he asked someone You need a pair of rubber gloves. After putting them on, pick up a potato and break off the buds on the side to demonstrate.
Matthias thought for a moment and agreed: "Okay, I will arrange for someone to do this later."
People are no strangers to fruit girdling. This principle applies to It fits here too.
Frederick continued to squat there handling potato sprouts, and asked him: "Are the ashes ready?"
Matthias immediately replied: "It's ready. You can apply fertilizer immediately after planting."
After hearing this, Frederick just nodded silently and handled the potatoes quietly. .
Matthias noticed something strange about him and asked curiously: "Principal, what's bothering you?"
Frederick sighed deeply and said: " No money. "
Yesterday he made a calculation for the army in the territory, and then found that he seemed to have lost his money.
There are now nearly 100,000 people in the territory. Frederick plans to wait until the lives of the newly moved residents are on the right track to form a regular army of 2,000 people. This year, he will first set up the frame.
That day, after Richard Nar came back from trying out the new weapons, he took All Might, Old Franz and a bunch of old mercenaries and murmured for two days, and finally came up with a plan for a 4,000-man army. .
After reading the plan, Frederick spread his hands and said, "No money."
These guys made every soldier - including the coachman - assembled to the teeth, and even all of them wore armor. The silver scale breastplate made by Ogilvy has good defensive power. The problem is that this thing costs 5 florins a piece. In addition, the semi-automatic magic air gun has 7 florins, the engineer shovel has 2 Kreutzers, and the helmet plus lining is 16 grams. Reutz, steel-toe stab-proof military boots 10 Kreutz, yellow slime washbasin 50 copper plates...
Frederick did not dare to calculate how much money would be needed.
After listening to his complaints, Mathias just smiled and said nothing more.
This is a very normal way to ask for a budget. Who would be so stupid as to report the normal price?
Now it seems that the principal has not discovered the problem, and he will do the same in the future, so he will not expose it.
Frederick currently does not know the actual cost of these new products, so he will not react for a while.
"Let's go see other oriental crops." He stood up and took off his gloves, "They are all planted now."
Matthias and he walked out and said: "Spring wheat is already here The fields have been sown, and Chinese cabbage, chickweed, peppers, and tomatoes have emerged and are ready to be moved to the fields.”
“It seems that the weather is still a little cold, so the cucumbers and pumpkins will be planted later.”
"The base fertilizer in the field is sufficient. I use blood meal to mix the seeds. I don't need to strengthen it with magic first."
While talking, the two walked to the field next to the greenhouse where they were going to plant potatoes. The farmers Wearing gloves, spread the plant ash into the pits where potato seedlings are to be placed.
After hearing this, Frederick nodded silently.
Mrs. Sophie gave five translated versions of the cultivation methods of these vegetables. He directly translated the original version into Rhineish, and then proofread it for Psyche.
The characters in the East of this world are a little different from those in his hometown. For example, the words "Shi" and "Tu" seem to be reversed. The character "春" has four horizontal lines on it and two horizontal lines in the middle. There are also two horizontal lines in the sentence, which can barely be understood based on the context.
Psyche said that she would teach him the language when the tomatoes and scrambled eggs were ordered.
The two continued walking forward and stopped at the edge of a field where soybeans were planted.
Frederick had a lot of trouble with planting soybeans at first. In order to deceive him that they were golden beans that could be used to refine gold, Mrs. Sophie washed the beans very clean and only needed to wax them, causing him to have to wait a long time before sowing. First look for rhizobia from other plants for seed dressing. After the first crop, select the ones with the largest root nodules and keep them for the second year after grinding them for seed dressing.
Grow soybeans for another year this year and promote them in the territory next year.
“I have a worry.” Matthias said, “With such a high yield of Elizabethan potatoes, will it hurt the land?”
Frederick bought it from Mrs. Sophie The money for the seeds was left by his grandmother Elizabeth. In order to commemorate her, he named the potato that was destined to go down in history after her.
“Don’t worry.” Frederick said with certainty, “It is inevitable to damage the land, especially the nutrients needed by the roots.”
"So, like root crops such as radish, it cannot be planted continuously. It must be planted at least four years apart."
In addition to affecting the yield, continuous planting of a single crop for many years is also prone to diseases and insect pests. There are no pesticides these days. The most effective way to kill pests or germs is to starve them to death.
For example, some pests that eat radish roots will starve to death if the land is not planted with root crops such as radishes but other crops for two or three consecutive years.
“Yes.” Mathias nodded slightly, “But Elizabeth potatoes are a staple food, not a vegetable. I think the crop rotation method needs to be improved.”
“Let’s take a look. Beet to go”
Sugar beets are resistant to low temperatures. They were planted in February shortly after the snow melted, and seedlings had already grown.
Matthias pointed to the beet seedlings and said: "I have strengthened the roots of these beets. I estimate that after several generations of continuous strengthening, they will be as big as a fist."
Frederick is in his mind. After thinking about such a big beet, Zhong said: "This is not bad. Even if it is not sweet, it can be used as vegetables and feed."
At this time, a ten-year-old child ran over and said, He said that he was looking for the master. There was something going on at the breeding farm.
(End of this chapter)