Wu Nanhai bought this land from the county government at a very cheap price without any trouble a few months ago. As for why such a large piece of land close to the river is uncultivated, the Agriculture Committee thinks it is the local
There was a lot of land but a shortage of labor. However, when Wang Tian heard that the "chiefs" had bought this land, he hurriedly came to tell Wu Nanhai: This business was a loss!
In fact, this piece of land has always been reclaimed by farmers from Fujian, but they always abandon the land after one or two years of cultivation.
"The yield is too low." Wang Tian said, "If you work hard to grow rice, you can get about 70 to 80 kilograms per acre. If you don't take care of it well, you can't even reach this number. If you plant two crops, you can only get less.
Two hundred kilograms of rice is not even enough to fill my stomach."
"Seventy or eighty kilograms?" Wu Nanhai was almost shocked. Seventy or eighty kilograms is just dry grain, and after peeling, it will lose 20 to 30%. He knew that the level of agricultural production in ancient times was not high, but with what he currently knows
Generally speaking, as long as irrigation can be ensured for ordinary rice fields on both sides of the Wenlan River, it is still possible to produce an output of 300 kilograms per mu.
"I don't know something," Wang Tian said. "It's not easy to farm here. If it doesn't rain, there will be drought. If it rains for three days in a row, there will be waterlogging. However, even if there is no drought or flooding in the United States, you won't be able to harvest much rice."
Wu Nanhai was surprised by this phenomenon, but because he was unable to develop it for a while, he did not investigate further. In order to prevent large areas of land from being abandoned, he asked farmers and workers to extensively plant some on the land for silage.
Some of the leguminous crops and green manure for feed were brought by him from another time and space, and some were found by remote exploration teams. The results were quite bleak. Except for the yield of alfalfa, which was barely okay, almost all leguminous crops were
The army was destroyed.
"It looks like this land is seriously deficient in phosphorus. Soil improvement needs to be done."
"So the low yield is probably due to problems with the soil environment." Fa Shilu said after listening to his description, "We have not carefully investigated the soil quality and moisture in the United States, Taiwan and the Yangtze River.
“Is it possible that the pH value of the soil is too high?”
Fa Shilu said: "It is possible. Since we are engaged in high-yield and stable-yield fields, it involves the issue of soil improvement."
He picked up some soil at random on the ground and looked at it: "If I remember correctly, the soil in Lingao should be consistent with the main soil type in Jiangxi and Guangdong, mainly brick red soil. In this case, it is relatively easy to improve.
It's easier, lime can do it. If you have alkaline soil, you have to find gypsum."
He rubbed it a little: "This kind of red soil is developed from basalt, plus the sand washed down by the river from the upper reaches over the years. Generally speaking, the sand is relatively heavy, but it is not a big problem for rice fields."
While they were talking, Chu Qing came back with a large basket filled with bottles of kvass and kombucha drinks.
"There's no more in the canteen. I'll go directly to the food factory to get it." Chu Qing said with a smile, "I'll soak it in water to cool it down first." As she said that, she carried the basket and walked towards a stream down the slope.
These two beverages have been officially mass-produced in food processing plants, with semi-automatic filling and manual sealing. The bottles are provided by the glass factory and sealed with cork and wax. Due to the lack of preservatives, sugar and citric acid can only be used to preserve them.
, so the shelf life is very short. The taste is not very good either.
But for those who were tired of drinking tea and boiled water, these two drinks came at the right time and immediately became a hot commodity in the canteen. Many indigenous people who bought a bottle out of curiosity also liked their taste -
―Some people do it purely for the purpose of imitating the lifestyle of others.
Fa Shilu watched her soak the entire basket into the stream. There were many low hills scattered on the edge of this field. Unlike the field with sparse vegetation, the vegetation on the hills was dense, and there were many ground streams between the hills.
The gurgling water flows among the green vegetation. Some of it gathers into larger surface runoff and flows into the Wenlan River, some of it gathers into the ponds among the hills, and some of it flows on the ground for a while and then dives into the ground.
"The water source is so abundant!" Fashilu said to himself.
"Have you investigated the water source here?" He suddenly asked Yanquezhi. Yanquezhi was originally staring at Chu Qing's back before he came back to his senses:
"No, geological matters belong to the remote exploration team. I can't even help build houses in the construction company."
"Since you are a hydrologist, you should know something about it. Is the surface runoff here spring water?"
"It's not considered mineral water, but the water quality is very good. The water quality is clear and the water temperature is low." Yan Quezhi said with confidence, "It should be the precipitation that accumulated underground and then emerged."
"That's right." Fashilu nodded and called everyone, "Let's go down and investigate the soil conditions here."
Several people walked down the hillside together. Wu Nanhai took his apprentice, named Lu Jia, who was selected from the school. Lu Jia's family was a government tenant, specializing in school land. The burden of the government tenant was very heavy, far more than that of ordinary people.
It was difficult to get tenants. In order to have less mouths to talk to, Lu Jia's father sent two brothers, Lu A and Lu B, to the Crossing Group - purely for a living.
Lu Jia was older, could do a lot of farm work, and was smart, so he was accepted by Wu Nanhai as his apprentice.
A group of people dug several exploratory squares at intervals on the wasteland to sample and observe the soil.
"Old method! It's still brick red soil here. It's everywhere." Wu Nanhai said.
"Yes, this is the most common soil in southern China." Fa Shilu squatted by the pit, "The fertility of this soil should be good. If you grow rice on such land, you can only harvest less than 100 kilograms.
, that’s weird.”
But the next step of excavation soon revealed the mystery of the low yield here. They began to dig out a large amount of rusty paddy soil. This soil was caused by long-term poor drainage and irrigation, and there was water in the soil. There was a large amount of water in the soil.
Rusty red hydroxide, the soil is highly acidic, the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content is low, and the soil fertility is very poor.
"Strange, this should be caused by long-term water accumulation." Wu Nanhai said, "But this place is still far away from the highest water level of the Wenlan River in the rainy season."
"The groundwater level here is high." Fashilu pointed to the hilly area. "The water in the stream eventually dives into the ground. It looks like a plain, but in fact it is like a sponge full of water underneath. It is a typical waterlogging."
Yanquezhi put the equipment up and observed: "Well, the terrain here can't be felt. It's actually lower than the surrounding places. In addition, the spring water in the hilly area is constantly replenished. The groundwater level is very high, so it formed
A long-term hidden waterlogging situation.”
"That's right, otherwise there is no way to explain why there is such widespread rusty paddy soil." Fa Shilu said, "Not only did people cultivate paddy fields in the United States and Taiwan in history, but paddy field cultivation was also quite extensive. Finally, it is because of the soil.
Only then will the problems be abandoned and abandoned.”
He said this because paddy soil is essentially an artificial soil, developed from annual irrigation in rice-growing areas. Such soil structure generally does not exist in nature.
"Master, this is called rusty paddy field here." Lu Jia interrupted, "There is often a layer of oil-like red rust on the paddy field. In fact, there are some rotten wet fields here, all over the hills -
"
"Rotten wetland?" Wu Nanhai became interested, "Has your family ever planted it?"
"No." Lu Jia shook his head, "You will lose money if you farm here. Unless Fu Lao comes to open up wasteland without knowing the reason, no one in the county will come here to farm."
"Let's go and have a look." Fashilu suggested.
Soon they arrived at a hillside. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary wasteland, but if you look closely, it looked like it had been cultivated, and the ridges of the fields could still be vaguely seen.
"In the past, Fu Lao came to plant here, but in the end the harvest failed." Lu Jia said, "Water came out of the good fields, and the rice was submerged."
They explored again. The conditions here were worse than there. Water came out almost as soon as they were dug, and springs appeared in some places. Due to long-term water accumulation, the soil was oversaturated with water, the soil was extremely dispersed, and the texture was sticky.
It is heavy, mushy, difficult to till, and the soil layers are not well defined.
"The fertility of this soil will not be good." Wu Nanhai fiddled with the mud and separated many dead leaves and grass from it. They were all intact and almost not rotten. "The organic matter basically does not decompose."
"Because it's too sticky." Fashilu said, "Air can't get in. It's like a closed environment. How can organic matter rot?" He shook his head, "This kind of field is even more difficult to manage."
Wu Nanhai seized this opportunity and taught Lu Jia for five minutes what organic matter is and why organic matter decomposes. What are the benefits of organic matter for planting after decomposition? Regardless of whether he understands it or not, the concept should be directly introduced to Lu Jia first.
"The key is drainage." Fa Shilu concluded.
To change this situation, it is not enough to simply improve the soil, but also to solve the fundamental problem: waterlogging.
"To solve the problem of waterlogging," Yanquezhi said, pointing to the survey map, "we have to expand the size of the drainage canal. The groundwater level is too high. It needs to drop at least 1 to 1.2 meters before it is suitable for farming. If necessary, another one must be added.
A dedicated water pump. The five currently planned drainage branch channels may not be enough, and three more need to be added."
"In this case, your river embankment project is not small."
"The embankments are part of the Wenlan River basin reconstruction plan," Yanquezhi said. "According to Ma Du Gong's plan, the water surface of the entire Wenlan River will be raised by 100 centimeters in the future to facilitate navigation. At present, all along the
River facilities are all planned according to this plan,”
According to the plan, a riverside dam will be built first along the development zone to isolate the river water from the entire high-yield and stable-yield farmland area to prevent possible flooding during the rainy season. Gates for water channels will be set up on the river embankment. A steam pumping station will also be installed.
, using steam engines as power for irrigation and drainage.