Because it was the first year of planning, the orchard was not big. Chen Xu followed a manager in charge of the orchard to check the hillside next to each other and found that the survival rate of the grafted saplings was indeed not too high, but Chen Xu was very satisfied with a group of students from the Agricultural College. Many of the saplings of fruit trees were pruned and no longer grew randomly like the previous fruit trees.

In the breeding and cultivation of plants, cuttings, grafting and pruning are the most common methods.

In order not to change the characteristics of the mother plant, cuttings are the best means of reproduction. The fruit trees cut out are almost exactly the same as the mother plant, which is equivalent to the simplest cloning technology. The fruits produced in this way will not have traces of degeneration, and the most common and obvious ones are grapes.

Of course, excellent grapes are not introduced back in the Western Regions at present. There are only mountain grapes in the Central Plains, not only with low yields, but also the ripening time is messy. They do not belong to high-quality fruits, but can only be used to make wine and vinegar.

Grafting is not to ensure the true appearance of the fruit, but to improve it. It is considered a hybrid technology. Grafting some plants from the same family through branches can obtain some improved new varieties of fruits, such as increasing sweetness, increasing volume, enhancing taste, etc.

As for pruning, the purpose of topping and sparse flowers is to increase yield.

Chen Xu remembered that when he was a child, he followed his father and mother to top the rapeseed flowers, which means that before the rapeseed blooms in spring, the top main flower will grow, so that more branches will grow.

Then I saw my mother planting sweet potatoes by cuttings.

Although these rural areas are common, Chen Xu is not particularly familiar with them. He is not very good at using hands-on ability. If you ask him to graft a tree, it will probably die, but it does not prevent him from knowing these principles and methods.

Therefore, after the establishment of the Agricultural College, Chen Xu took the time to give a few lessons. The content was very simple but comprehensive. He proposed various cultivation methods to increase plant yield, such as cuttings, grafting, pruning, hybridization, etc., and even mentioned the hybridization problem of wheat and rice.

At present, the main foods of the people in the Qin Dynasty are wheat, millet, beans, millet, and rice, collectively known as grains.

Wheat is wheat. This crop is mainly grown in the Central Plains, and is grown in dry fields, usually in winter and summer harvest.

Milk is millet, which is also grown in the Central Plains, but it has requirements for water and is a semi-water and semi-arid crop.

Beans are soybeans, and they are planted in dry fields like wheat, but they are planted in spring and harvested in autumn.

Millet is mainly grown in the north, sorghum rice, which is more difficult to eat, but it is better because it grows high and has strong vitality and can grow on wastelands, so it is the staple food for northerners.

Rice is rice, mainly planted in the Yangtze River Basin.

Although China is an ancient agricultural country and agricultural planting has been developing for one or two thousand years, in fact, due to the lack of tools, the farming model is very primitive and backward. It is basically slash-and-burn planting. In winter, a torch is used to burn the plants and weeds. In spring, dig holes in the fields sow seeds, do not cultivate the land or turn over the land, and do not specialize in accumulation of fertilizer and fertilizer. At most, weeding is removed and watered. The yield is extremely low under this simple planting method.

The Central Plains region has the most developed agriculture, but the yield of one acre of land will not exceed two stones, and the yield of rice in the south is even lower, all of which are only about one stone.

Therefore, during the teaching class at the Agricultural College, Chen Xu specifically mentioned the cultivation of two staple foods, wheat and rice.

Wheat is mainly promoted by Qinghe Town, with deep cultivation of fertilizer and inter-sowing ridges, strengthening ventilation and drainage and other measures. Through two consecutive years of promotion, the acceptance of this cultivation method of wheat and other dry land crops has been very high. At least Chen Xu came and went to Nanyang and Xianyang, and the large areas of wheat fields he saw on the way almost adopted new farming methods. The winter wheat has risen very well, including the current fiefdoms.

Regarding rice, Chen Xu proposed the method of planting seedlings in later generations, and also emphasized the necessity and importance of deep cultivation and accumulation of fertilizer and weeding. The most important thing is that Chen Xu mentioned the hybridization model of rice, which is to select good varieties like wheat, and then pollinate and hybridize with some wild rice. Repeatedly select varieties with large ears and full pest resistance and lodging resistance for special experimental fields sowing, with the goal of obtaining high-quality and high-yield rice varieties.

For Chen Xu, there are two main development tasks for Daqin at the moment. One is reform and abolishing many harsh laws so that the people can take a breath. The second is food, continuously increasing the grain output, so that the people can talk about other developments while eating enough.

Food is the most important thing for people, and eating is the most important thing now.

The students and teachers of the Agricultural College were very excited and even a little crazy about these strange cultivation methods and theories proposed by Chen Xu.

Those who can enter the agricultural college are basically the kind of people who attach great importance to agricultural production on weekdays. Most of them are farm apprentices who regard Shennong as the originator. They like to study the cultivation and planting of various plants, hoping to find more methods for high yields of grain and fruits.

Chen Xu's teaching only refers to the direction and goals they pursue, and also proposes many practical and feasible methods.

Cutting has existed since ancient times. Although the theory of grafting is not systematic, agronomists have long been studying the methods of increasing yields such as pruning and topping, but this phenomenon is common. Cutting off the canopy of a tree will lead to more branches growing around it, but no one has studied it carefully.

The theory of hybridization is also easy to understand.

Chen Xu once gave examples in class.

A tall man and a beautiful woman get married. The children born inherit the advantages of their parents and may be very tall and handsome. If a short and thin man and an ugly woman get married, the children born can be roughly inferred that they must be ugly, and may even inherit the shortcomings of both parties, which are short and ugly.

Therefore, this combination of humans and men can be regarded as a means of hybridization.

The same is true for crops. We constantly select tall and strong male plants and strong female plants with strong, multi-grained female plants for hybridization, and finally we can cultivate high-quality varieties with high yields.

Of course, the cultivation of good seeds cannot be achieved in one or two years, and it was in a wilderness like the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, Chen Xu was disdainful to do such things, and did not have the time to do it, nor did he have the mood or energy to do it. There are too many facts he has to do now.

He set up a scholarship of 300,000 yuan at the Agricultural College.

This scholarship is for students in all disciplines of the Agricultural College.

Regardless of time, place, and field, all students who can study carefully will be selected for the entire college every year and will receive a scholarship of no more than 1,000 yuan. In addition, the Agricultural College recruits poor students all year round. In addition to tuition exemption, it also provides food and accommodation. Once graduation, it will be recommended to the Ministry of Revenue and various counties to serve as official positions, which has greatly stimulated many young people from poor families to study in the Agricultural College.

In addition to this scholarship of up to 300,000 yuan, Chen Xu also launched his own scientific research plan for each department. The teaching teachers and professors proposed their own research projects. The college gave a start-up capital of no more than 10,000 yuan after the project evaluation. Then the project can be officially started. The teacher and professor serve as project leaders and lead their students to carry out experiments. A one to three-year inspection period is given according to the different project fields. If the research is made, all those involved will receive a large amount of financial rewards.

The same is true for the School of Technology, not to mention that the School of Technology was originally a subordinate college of the Ministry of Technology, and it happened to be under the jurisdiction of Chen Xu. Therefore, the rewards set up are higher and the research direction is not limited. Like the Academy of Sciences, any whimsical and nonsense can be studied. Whether it is a team or an individual, as long as the research obtains a breakthrough and is recognized by the Academy of Sciences, it can receive a large amount of money as a reward.

Stimulated by Chen Xu's large amount of money, students from both the Agricultural College and the Engineering College are now crazy, and many teachers and teachers are also crazy, desperately studying the content and problems that Chen Xu usually talks in class.

In the orchard, a group of shiny girls walked and looked at it, and checked some grafted fruit trees. A group of people slowly climbed to the top of the mountain.

"If you are tired of walking, take a break!"

Chen Xu looked at Ying Shiman and Meng Wan's two wives who didn't go out often, so he was tired and sweating slightly on his forehead, so he chose a piece of grass full of wild flowers to sit down.

"Husband, you just said that after grafting different fruit trees, I have never heard of these novel theories. Li can be grafted on an apricot tree. Are they plums or apricots growing?"

Ying Shiman, who particularly likes all kinds of novel things, knelt beside Chen Xu and said softly.

"The fruits that are grafted on the plum tree are still plums, but you may combine the characteristics of apricots, such as being sour and softer; but if the apricot tree is grafted on the plum tree, the apricots are still grown, but the taste and size may also change... Shiman, I'll help you insert a flower!"

While speaking, Chen Xu picked a red wild flower from the grass and inserted it on Ying Shiman's hair.

Ying Shiman's cheeks were flushed in an instant.

"Husband, I want it too!" Meng Wan also squeezed over and lowered her head to compete for favor.

"Well, my husband will help you to have one!" Chen Xu smiled and picked a peach blossom from a hanging branch next to him and inserted it into Meng Wan's ears.

"The peaches are beautiful and bright, and the children are beautiful. When they return, they are suitable for their family. Haha, Wan'er, this is your favorite song. Today's song is like the person, and the peach blossoms are red in the face and the peach blossoms are really matched with you!" Chen Xu looked at Meng Wan's pretty and beautiful little face and felt that he was a little moved in an instant.

Although I was young, I still wanted to hug Ai Lian and touch her for a few bites. The beast's impulse is getting faster and faster now and can't suppress it.

"Thank you, my husband, for your praise!" Meng Wan's face turned red and excited.

"Husband, what fruit trees do you want to graft each other?" Ying Shiman, who loves learning, has a gentle personality and does not like to compete for favor. She is full of curiosity about grafting.

Chen Xu shook his head and said with a smile: "This is quite complicated. Generally, it depends on the similarity of the fruits. The more similar the two fruits are, the easier it is to survive, such as apricot trees and plum trees, such as crabapples and apples. But this is not absolute. It requires continuous experimentation to summarize the rules. In this orchard in a few years, we will be able to eat many new fruits of different flavors. In fact, there is a very sad legend about grafting!"

Looking at Ying Shiman's still curious expression, Chen Xu decided to use the tactics to tell stories again to divert Ying Shiman's curiosity, otherwise he would continue to ask questions and enjoy the flowers in spring and turn into a popular science lecture.
Chapter completed!