Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 775 Agricultural Science Class

Taking advantage of the opportunity to deliver the salt to the provincial government, Hua Lei took the printed book "Stones from Other Mountains" and went to find Gui Jijiu.

Hualei wanted to ask Gui Jijiu for help. During the ten-day break of the academy students, she could borrow the academy's classroom and offer a half-day or one-day agriculture class.

Teach people some basic agricultural theory knowledge, such as crop rotation, composting, and making some simple farm tools.

You can also learn some specific ways to grow crops, such as corn, because during this period, people from all over the country have already started to grow corn.

However, many people were not very clear about the method of corn planting. Although the staff of the state government had two years of corn planting experience, they were unable to spread this experience quickly.

On the one hand, because there are too few staff in the provincial government, it is impossible to teach planting experience face-to-face in one village.

On the other hand, since many people were illiterate, they could not understand even if they were given books, so it was difficult to promote corn cultivation in Xichang Prefecture.

Therefore, Hualei wanted to open an agronomy course to teach the people some simple theoretical knowledge for free, and in the other half of the day, go to the fields and practice what they have learned based on the theoretical knowledge.

After Gui Jijiu heard Hualei's idea, he was impressed by her foresight again. So, the two of them discussed it and improved many details. Then, the academies under each state capital issued a unified notice again.

On the academy's closed days every ten days, the academy sets up free agricultural classes to teach basic agricultural knowledge. Citizens in need can come to the academy to study for free.

In addition, a consultation point was set up at the gate of the academy to provide help to all the people. If anyone has any problems with corn planting, they can go directly to the consultation point for consultation.

If there is a problem with any fruit tree, or if the maker does not know how to rake the tree, you can also go to the consultation point and ask for help.

As long as it is about fields and planting, you can consult, all for free. In addition, if the people have good opinions, suggestions, and experiences in field planting, they can also tell the consulting point.

Once these suggestions and experiences are adopted, there will be corresponding rewards. The rewards are varied. Many are sent by local wealthy merchants, such as five catties of brown rice, three feet of red cloth, a pottery jar, etc.

At the consultation point, Hualei selected several literate hangers-on to sit there and help the people solve their problems. Of course, these hangers-on were also farmers themselves.

Moreover, they had already learned the "Stones from Other Mountains" issued by Hualei in advance, and could answer some simple questions from the people. If they encountered something they did not understand, they would promptly look it up in books, or consult the master, and then inform the people.

In addition, the opinions, suggestions, and experiences raised by the people are also recorded very carefully and fed back to the dean of the academy, and then a copy will be sent to Hualei.

After receiving the flower buds, officials in the government offices would study them carefully, verify them carefully, and compile these useful folk experiences into a book called "Flame Collection", which means that when many hands add fuel, the flames rise high.

Moreover, the name of the provider is signed after each experience, so that these ordinary people who provide the experience can also feel proud.

As a result, more people joined the ranks, and the Flame Collection became thicker and thicker. At the same time, corn planting in people's homes became smoother and smoother.

In the fields, corn seeds were breaking through the soil, germinating and growing smoothly. Hualei was very happy to see this. So, Hualei proposed a corn planting competition in 100 villages.

The competition is divided into two individual awards.

One is based on the village as the scope. The household with the highest yield per mu of corn planted by the villagers in the village is the "champion household" of this project. In addition to rewarding this "champion household", the village will also receive rewards.

Another individual award is based on the total output of a village and the amount of tax grain it pays. The village that submits the largest amount of corn and tax grain is called the "Corn Champion Village."

The top three from each county will participate in the competition in the state capital. Then, the top three will be selected according to the above method and then participate in the competition in the prefectural capital.

There are prizes at every level, and finally, if you can get the top three in Xichang Prefecture, you will get rich prizes.

The highest prize was thirty taels of silver. The second place winner received twenty taels. The third place winner received ten taels. In addition, there were various other prizes such as cloth and rice.

Of course, the competition needs to be fair, so Hualei also explained in the notice that each village can do its best to increase the yield of corn fields.

However, it is strictly forbidden for villages to use dishonorable means, deliberately do bad things, and destroy each other's corn fields in order to win.

Once discovered, all those involved will be severely punished, and the village head, county magistrate, and prefect will be held accountable. As soon as the notice was issued, Xichang Prefecture began to become lively.

All the prefects urged the county magistrates under their jurisdiction, and all the county magistrates urged the village heads under their jurisdiction, and they began to work hard one by one with all their might.

Seeing that the enthusiasm of all the people in Xichang Prefecture had been aroused, Hualei was very satisfied. So she started looking for prizes for the corn competition again.

Of course, she also took the lead and went to her own warehouse to look for prizes.

While the corn competition was in full swing, experiments with mixed cross-planting of rice were also underway in the official fields.

After two years of experimentation, Hualei has found three varieties of rice that are more resistant to pests and diseases, and two that have relatively high yields.

Hualei has also been keeping an eye on these rice plants. For the dozen or so rice varieties planted in the experiment, Hualei has made a thick notebook of their habits, growth characteristics, and growth requirements.

In the past, there was data proving that the more diverse the genes of animals and plants, the stronger their ability to survive. Conversely, the weaker their ability to survive, the more likely they are to be eliminated.

Rice itself is "hermaphrodite" and pollinates itself, so its offspring are "inbred" and have a single gene.

Therefore, if no changes are made, rice will most likely become worse with each generation. It will not only be more susceptible to diseases and pests, but its yield will also become lower and lower.

Just like humans, if close relatives keep marrying, it is very easy for their offspring to have deformed children.

The reason why Hualei wants to conduct experiments on mixed cross-planting of rice is to find rice varieties that are high-yielding and highly resistant to diseases and pests, in preparation for subsequent hybrid rice.

As for hybrid rice, Hualei only knows the general principle and knows that hybrid rice is the offspring produced by crossing two varieties of rice.

Such offspring usually show stronger environmental adaptability and yield advantages. These two varieties are the "father" and "mother" of hybrid rice.