I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 649 Bitter Cassava and Breadfruit

The current Minister of Agriculture is Huang Xu. He previously led experiments and promoted cotton and rice rotation in farmland in the Jiangnan area, so he became the Minister.

In recent years, the trading fleets heading to Yinzhou have successively brought back native crops from Yinzhou, Sandalwood Islands and other places, as well as some special tree species.

Except for sandalwood, sandalwood wild boar, and sandalwood rail, the ones with the highest economic value are bitter cassava and bread tree.

Among them, bitter cassava is mainly a crop brought back from Malacca. Its origin is in Brazil in southern Yinzhou. Later, after the Spanish colonized Yinzhou, they discovered this potato crop eaten by local indigenous people.

However, at first, the Spaniards were unwilling to eat cassava because it was poisonous and highly toxic. If not handled properly, it would be easy to die from poisoning.

It was not until later that the Spanish colonial areas were not suitable for growing wheat, so they had to start planting cassava extensively, and the results were out of control.

Bitter cassava is not only easy to grow, but also very high-yield. It can be harvested in all seasons. It can also adapt to extreme environmental climates. Even if it is made into bread, it is easier to preserve than wheat bread.

Relying on these excellent characteristics, bitter cassava was introduced to Africa by the Portuguese in Brazil about two hundred years ago, and then quickly spread to the Far Eastern colonies through the Colombian route.

These crops were cultivated in Goa by the Portuguese, Malacca in China...

Huang Xu came to the palace to meet the emperor and directly brought the bitter cassava and breadfruit newly bred by the Ministry of Agriculture.

"Your Majesty, these bitter cassava and bread tree are really gifts from God to the Ming Dynasty!" Huang Xu said with excitement as soon as he saw the emperor.

Of course Zhu Yijiong knew that they were good things. The fame of breadfruit and bitter cassava in later generations was not for nothing: "What are the results of the breeding?"

Huang Xu picked up a few bitter cassava and said: "Let's talk about this bitter cassava first. It is poisonous and has a strong bitter taste. But precisely because of its toxicity, it can effectively prevent diseases and pests. We have selected several experimental fields in several provinces in the north and south. Experimental cultivation is carried out. In several experimental fields in the north, the growth is generally not very good, especially the farther north, the colder the climate, and the worse the growth. On the contrary, in the south, most bitter cassava grows well and is very drought-tolerant, even in the mountains of Fujian. It can also grow very well. We have also conducted trial planting in Qiongzhou and Taiwan, and the average yield per mu in these two provinces has even reached 130 to 140 shi (approximately 7000 kilograms).”

"The yield per mu is 130 shi?" Zhu Yijiong almost thought she heard wrongly.

Huang Xu nodded: "It is indeed 130 shi, which is more than three times higher than the sweet potato yield per mu. Even if the growth in other provinces is not so good, it can still produce at least 80 shi per mu. Moreover, bitter cassava is less picky than sweet potatoes and is more durable. Drought tolerant and pest resistant.”

Zhu Yijiong understood now and clapped her hands repeatedly and praised: "Okay, okay, this bitter cassava is indeed a good thing!"

In her previous life, Zhu Yijiong only knew that bitter cassava was very famous. Like breadfruit, it was grown almost all over the world. However, he did not know that the yield per mu was so high, even higher than that of the famous "Kanggan Sweet Potato Festival".

The yield per mu is 80 to 140 shi, which may not make sense, but you only need to know that even in modern times, sweet potato yields have not reached 100 shi per mu.

And this is without the addition of chemical fertilizers from later generations. In the current Ming Dynasty, the salary of the seventh-grade county magistrate has risen to 60 shilumi, which means that only one acre of bitter cassava can support a county magistrate.

This calculation may not be appropriate, but it is also quite amazing.

Zhu Yijiong said: "Since this bitter cassava is so high-yielding and drought-resistant, we will push it to be planted in Luzon, Sichuan and other places, as well as in the 800 Army Prefecture. We can also try to plant it. As long as it can be successful, then in the future these All localities can achieve self-sufficiency in food without the need for government funding.”

Huang Xu then added: "Your Majesty, although bitter cassava is high-yielding and drought-resistant, and can control diseases and pests, it is poisonous. If you want to eat it, you must first soak it in water for several days, then dry it and cook it before you can eat it."

Zhu Yijiong nodded: "I know that when local governments recommend planting bitter cassava, they must give repeated orders to the people. Especially in Luzon and the Eight Hundred Military Prefectures, the governors and marshals of the military prefectures must know the correct way to eat it. Let the Propaganda Department, Guangzhou And tell the people.”

Luzon and Babaijun Prefecture are tropical and mountainous, and it is difficult to feed a large population by growing inland food crops, but it can be done by promoting bitter cassava.

As long as the bitter cassava detoxification process is done well, the future expansion and immigration of the Han people in Luzon and the southwest border will not be as violent as the governor of Yecheng, but it will also greatly accelerate the rate of population growth and land digestion.

"By the way, how is the breeding situation of breadfruit trees?" Zhu Yijiong asked immediately.

When Huang Xu heard about the bread tree, the smile on his face was even more excited than when he mentioned the bitter cassava: "Your Majesty, I was about to talk about this tree. The bread tree brought back by the voyage fleet from the Sandalwood Islands is better than the Portuguese tree." Bitter cassava is even more magical, even miraculous.”

From magical to miraculous, this rating is quite high! Zhu Yijiong smiled and said: "Huang Qing, don't be anxious, please speak slowly."

There’s really nothing to say about the advantages of breadfruit, because there are so many of them. This thing is simply a hexagonal warrior among crops.

It has all the advantages that bitter cassava has, and it’s even better.

Kusam trees are high-yielding and drought-tolerant, and breadfruit trees are also high-yielding and drought-tolerant. Not only are they drought-tolerant, they are also cold-tolerant and can even adapt to almost all extreme environmental climates on the planet.

This thing can grow regardless of plateaus, mountains, or desert areas. It also has good resistance to wind, drought, humidity and heat, and even to salt-alkali soils.

The growth rate of breadfruit is also very fast. It only takes a week from the seeds to germinate, and then they can mature within a few months.

Its seeds can be picked and sown at any time, and can even be propagated by methods such as layering, tillering or root cuttings. The difficulty of planting and management is very simple, and it is not picky about the quality of the soil and the climate and light conditions.

After research by the Ministry of Agriculture, it was even found that this tree is resistant to a variety of common diseases and insect pests. For example, cotton-rice rotation mainly prevents bollworm disease, but bread tree is not afraid of bollworm disease at all.

This is only the advantageous result obtained by the Ministry of Agriculture after several years of breeding.

In addition, bread tree has more unexplored advantages, such as improving human immunity, promoting human protein utilization (healthy weight loss), etc.

Moreover, the nutritional value of breadfruit is also extremely high. There are even exaggerated claims in later generations that one breadfruit can provide an adult man's ration for half a year without the need for any other food supplements.

Of course, with so many advantages of the super crop breadfruit, it also has a serious drawback, that is, the fruits of breadfruit are less easy to preserve than sweet potatoes and bitter cassava.

The Ministry of Agriculture has tried many methods, but none can effectively preserve breadfruit for a long time.

The only good thing is that the yield of breadfruit is indeed high, and most of the year is the fruiting period.

The average annual output of a breadfruit tree is 150 to 200 breadfruits. Each breadfruit weighs more than 6 kilograms, and some can even weigh 10 kilograms.

With these advantages, the disadvantage of being difficult to preserve is not that concerning. The problem of preservation can be solved later. At worst, it can be eaten directly as rations.

Zhu Yijiong smiled and said: "With this bread tree, food can be grown in the desert of the Hetao in the north."

"I congratulate Your Majesty!"

Huang Xu is also very happy. If food can be grown in the Hetao area in the future, countless people will live as a result.

As the Minister of Agriculture, he can also leave a strong mark in the history of history.

Don’t look down on those who grew food in ancient times. In the feudal small-scale peasant economic dynasty, farming has always been the foundation of the country. Even when the Ming Dynasty opened up the sea and focused on commerce, the bulk of the annual fiscal revenue was still agricultural taxes.

Zhu Yijiong looked at the heavy breadfruit in his hand and suddenly felt his appetite increased: "Huang Qing, how do you eat this breadfruit?"

Huang Xu said: "Like common sweet potatoes, it only needs to be baked before it can be eaten. It tastes very much like Western bread."

Zhu Yijiong nodded, and then called the palace maids and asked them to take the baskets of breadfruit back to the imperial kitchen, clean and bake them, and then distribute them to the concubines, princes and princesses.

As for bitter cassava, it is not easy to eat, and the poison must be removed before eating.

In addition to eating bitter cassava directly, it can also be used to make cassava flour, which tastes very good.

(End of this chapter)