A Blessed Daughter - Chapter 229

A Blessed Daughter
Chapter 229 – A pleasant conversation with Mrs. Yuan (1)

Translator : Virichime
Editor : Tea
This translation made by Virichime.
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“Is the land condition of this Prefecture relatively poor?” Wei Ruo asked.

“The lands here weren’t like Xingshan County where it’s surrounded by the sea and completely unable to grow crops, but most of them relatively barren, where they only produce a limited amount of harvest.” Mrs. Yuan replied.

Based on these facts, it was noticeable that Mrs. Yuan’s gift of the thousand acres of fertile land to Wei Ruo was scarce and precious.

“I think it’s doable. After you take me to a field for investigation, I can think of a way to fertilize the soil. After improving the land, planting some crops can increase grain production to a certain extent,” Wei Ruo said.

Improving barren soil was much easier than improving saline alkali soil, since it needed less time and was less difficult. The main thing was to use the right method and understand the root cause.

Mrs. Yuan’s face was beaming with joy, “That’s great!”

“In addition, I have seen many mountainous areas in Prefecture that have not been cultivated into terraced fields in the past few days. It might be because the cost of cultivation is relatively high.” Wei Ruo said again.

“That’s right.”

“In that case, I highly recommend planting sweet potatoes that have already been planted in Huzhou Prefecture.” Wei Ruo said.

“Sweet potatoes?”

“Yes, it is a new crop brought back by merchant ships from Southeast Asia. Some people in Xingshan County have already planted it, and they have already had a good harvest this year.”

“This is indeed a good idea, but I don’t know if the families who have already planted sweet potatoes are willing to share the seeds with us.” Mrs. Yuan said worriedly.

“Madam, you don’t have to worry about this. I know a family that grows sweet potatoes in Xingshan County. I can ask them to give the vines to the government office for free, and the government office will distribute them to the people in the city.” Wei Ruo replied.

“If that’s true, Miss Wei and the family that grows sweet potatoes are both respected models of righteousness, generosity and selflessness.” Mrs. Yuan couldn’t help but praise.

“In fact, we got the seedling from its vines, and it can’t be concealed. It is propagated by cutting the vines from stems. So as long as there’s a single cut of the vine, it can be propagated. And the more people plant these, the higher the yield, so there is no need to keep it for ourselves.” Wei Ruo said.

-sweet potato vines

Crops that were grown from stems, such as sweet potatoes, did not require pollination* and were relatively easier to grow. If pollination was needed, everyone needed to have excellent seed to produce high-quality fruits for the crops.

*Pollination is when pollen from one part of a flower moves to another part. This transfer can result in fertilization, leading to the production of seeds and the growth of new plants.

“That’s great!” Although Mrs. Yuan didn’t understand agriculture, she felt happy when she heard what Wei Ruo said.

“Then can we plant the sweet potatoes immediately?” Mrs. Yuan asked again.

Wei Ruo shook her head and said, “Everything has its time. To plant sweet potatoes, we have to wait until next spring.”

Mrs. Yuan then asked, “Is there any faster way to get results? I’m worried that the people won’t be able to wait until then.”

Wei Ruo pondered and said, “There is also the method I am implementing in Xingshan County. We will start planting wheat now and plant rice after the wheat is harvested next year. If we can’t change the weather, multi-season planting would be a good method, but it will make farmers suffer.”

“Although they need to work hard, if they can eat a full meal, it’ll bring more joy than sorrow for them.” Mrs. Yuan said.

“In addition, I know that there is a batch of rice variety that has a good resistance towards cold weather. Switching to this type of rice can improve the problem of decreased grain production caused by bad weather.” Wei Ruo said.

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