"This is a watermelon seedling?" Wang Gongchen couldn't help but stepped forward to take a look, "I heard that Deputy Envoy Li sent the Khitan back and brought some watermelon seeds, most of which were given to the county marquis for trial planting, but I didn't expect it to sprout." Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ”

In recent decades, the Great Song Dynasty and the Khitan have been in frequent contacts, and there are several envoys every year, and the situation is much better. Many literati and ministers know that there are watermelons in the Khitan, which are very precious melons and fruits. There are also people who want to introduce seeds to the Song realm, but they have not succeeded. In the impression of the people at that time, especially in the impression of the literati, this kind of thing had to be planted by special people, and the peace between the two countries could bring back seeds, but not the farmers who planted melons, and it was easy to cause tension between the two countries. It is precisely because of this that Li Hong doesn't care about giving the seeds to Xu Ping, it's just a matter of luck.

Unexpectedly, Xu Ping really raised seedlings, and when he heard Wang Gongchen say, everyone came over to see.

Xu Ping saw that several people were gathered there in amazement, and he commented on the watermelon seedlings, and said helplessly: "You are wrong, it is not yet the season, and the watermelon will not be planted until the valley rain, when is it now?" Even if the watermelon is not ripe, you should always know that other melons, fruits, gourds, etc., are just beginning to prepare seedlings. ”

A few literati were a little embarrassed, why did they have to know when the melons and fruits were planted? It's good to be able to figure out the harvest and sowing season of rice and wheat, but is it really an old farmer?

Wang Gongchen straightened up and asked Xu Ping: "Since it's not the season now, why did the village start planting?" ”

"It's the first time I've planted watermelons, and I'm not sure about many details, so I have to plant a little bit first. These seedlings have been cultivated with great effort, do you think it will be easy? If there is no problem with these seedlings, this month they will grow strong, and when it comes to the valley rain, they can be sown in large quantities, so that it is safe. ”

Listening to Xu Ping's words, Wang Gongchen grinned and said: "The marquis always strives to be safe in doing things, and there is no leakage. ”

Xu Ping smiled: "Moreover, not only to see how they look, but also to try whether these watermelon seedlings can be connected to other melons and fruits, then it is even more important to try." ”

"On what? Can watermelon seedlings be attached to other melons and fruits? Wang Gongchen was very curious, and bent down to look at the seedlings that had just been planted in the ground, and sure enough, he found traces of grafting.

Xu Ping said: "The ones you see are connected to the gourd, and there are also connected to the winter melon, and I originally wanted to try to connect it to the cucumber, but the villagers just started to do it, and the craftsmanship was too poor and did not survive." ”

Ouyang Xiu and the others seemed to be listening to the Arabian Nights, they couldn't help it, and asked: "Everything in the world has its own nature, although I have never eaten or seen watermelons, but I have heard people talk about it, it is not half similar to a gourd, let alone a cucumber that is raw on a shelf." This can all grow together, isn't the county marquis joking? ”

Uncle Cao Ying smiled: "Then has Uncle Yong ever seen a mule?" Isn't it even more strange that horses and donkeys don't look alike, but they can give birth to mules? ”

Mei Yaochen said: "How can you say that? Donkeys and horses look very similar, just different in size. Just like people are born with thousands of faces, there are also differences between southerners and northerners, not to mention that there are Kunlun slaves who are not like people. From this point of view, it is possible that horses and donkeys are also the same, but they look different! ”

Xu Ping waved his hand: "The more you talk about it, the farther it goes, everything in the world is inherently similar, it's just a matter of looking at relatives from far and near." Watermelons are similar to many melons and fruits, and it is not unusual to be able to graft. You are in Luoyang, Xijing, and often say that Luoyang peony is the best in the world, how did those novel peony varieties come about? It is not only a selection of breeding, but also a grafting. Don't you know that some peonies are grafted on peonies? Scholars can't read dead books, and their ears don't hear what's going on outside the window, otherwise they won't make people laugh. ”

Fu Bi was stunned and said: "What, is the peony still grafted with peony?" I've only heard of using wild peonies. ”

Xu Ping said: "Why not?" I took it at home, and the growth is exceptionally good! ”

Fu Bi wanted to say something, but after thinking about it, he shook his head and closed his mouth. Xu Ping said that he took it at home, so it must not be wrong, so why should he fight for this.

In fact, it is no wonder that Fu Bi and others, although the grafting technology has appeared for thousands of years in this era, it has not been systematically promoted, and it is still regarded as a strange thing in the eyes of many literati. Peony has been precious since the Tang Dynasty, and the one produced in Luoyang is the best quality, but it has not been many years since the real promotion of grafting breeding, and it is good that Fubi can know it.

Xu Ping said: "Jia Sixian's book "Qi Min Yaoshu" records a variety of grafted fruit trees. In its "Inserting Pears", mulberry, jujube and pomegranate trees are used to receive pears, and mulberry pears taste the worst. But in fact, the old farmer who tested it said that the pears that were picked up on the mulberry tree were the most delicious. I have been an official in Lingnan all these years, and I have not had the opportunity to try it myself, and I don't know which is right and which is wrong. Although those of us who study and become officials do not say that we should be proficient in agricultural affairs like old peasants, we must not know these principles in agricultural affairs, otherwise we will make people laugh and lose the dignity of scholars. ”

Grafting is different from hybridization, and plants that are very far related can also be carried out, and it is common to cross families and genera. Xu Ping's grafted plants in his previous life are varied, but most of them are used for ornamentation like peonies, and although there are many fruits like watermelons, pears and apples, they are not worth mentioning compared to the total amount.

When he returned to the capital this time, he had time, and Xu Ping had the intention to systematically sort out the agricultural knowledge he had mastered, which could be regarded as a gift to the world. As a representative of horticultural technology, grafting technology naturally cannot be sloppy. I just got the seeds of watermelon from Li Hong, so I started with watermelon.

Historically, since the Song Dynasty, horticultural technology has been greatly developed, grafting technology has also made a leap, and by the time of the Southern Song Dynasty, it was actually very mature. However, it is a pity that no one has carried out a systematic theoretical combing, and the development has stagnated later.

Hearing Xu Ping talk about agricultural books, several readers kept silent. They claim to have no books and no readings, such as subsets of scriptures and histories, novels and miscellaneous records, all of which are involved. Naturally, I have also read "Qi Min Yaoshu", but I have only read it, let alone personally verify the technology of some of the aggregates in it, and I haven't even thought about it seriously.

Xu Ping looked at the melon seedlings on the ground and said to a few people: "You guys, you can't read the book of death." The difficulty of reading books to know the past and the present is not how many books to read, but to know the present in order to know the past. I don't even know what the world is like, isn't the so-called knowing the past and the present a blind guess? Later, he became a pro-people official and managed money and grain, but he didn't even know what the grain in the field looked like, so how could he persuade farmers to teach according to local conditions? If you read a lot of books, remember them well, and don't count your skills, you have to figure out all the truths in the book, and thoroughly understand them, which is the real reading. Farming is fundamental, as are some other things. I don't say that I will do everything by myself, but I must always understand the truth in it, which is the most basic. ”

At this time, Xu Ping suddenly felt that he had become the elder of these people, and his words were quite a bit of a promotion for the future. In fact, it is exactly like this, Xu Ping has naturally read the books that these readers have read, not as hard as them, but they understand the truth more deeply than them. Moreover, the knowledge of the two worlds is referenced, and he is willing to verify it in practice and understand it more deeply.

In the end, Xu Ping sighed: "On paper, I finally feel shallow, I never know that I have to bow to this matter, and I can't die studying." ”

The others looked at each other, only to feel that this sentence was very good, and they didn't know if it was a poem written by Xu Ping, or if they had occasional feelings, and they didn't dare to ask rashly, so they could only remember it in their hearts.

Xu Ping memorized a lot of poems and famous sayings in his previous life, where can he clearly remember who said it and which era? Some people are so confused, they say it casually, and forget about it casually. But the one who suffers the most is Lu You, who makes him often come up with wonderful sentences, and likes to write poems for wonderful sentences, and I don't know if Lu You can come up with better sentences and write more exquisite poems in the future.

However, the readers who heard it were not so easy to forget, some of them wrote in their own notes, and some even wrote letters to spread to their friends. The ability of the Marquis of Yongning to become a chapter has slowly spread, but it is a pity that there has been no great work. (To be continued.) )