明清时期中国传统肥料技术研究

施肥在明清农业生产中受到高度重视，以致出现了“凡种田总不出‘粪多力勤’四字”的局面。许多优质肥源在此期被开辟出来，肥料积制和施用技术也有较多创新之处。研究明清时期的传统肥料技术，对深入开展我国农业科技史的研究和资鉴当今生态农业的发展都有重要意义。 　　研究明清肥料技术，如不涉及当时的社会经济背景，我们的研究只能仅仅列出一份肥料种类和施肥技术的清单，而无法加深对肥料技术的演进规律及其影响的理解。本研究联系一定的自然、社会、经济、技术等因素，力图阐明明清时期肥料技术发展的规律性以及肥料技术的发展对农业生产和社会经济的影响与促进作用。 　　现今，现代化无机农业的发展愈来愈暴露出许多缺点和弊端，如大量施用化肥所带来的环境污染逐步升级、土壤肥力下降等。许多西方学者开始研究中国的传统农业，希望从中寻求有机农业的线索，他们尤其对我国传统肥料技术特别感兴趣。然而自改革开放以来，我国农民日益重化肥而轻农家(有机)肥，这一现象在有些地区还十分严重。我们应该认真研究我国古代施肥历史，努力挖掘传统肥料技术中仍具生命力的部分，继承发扬这些优良传统，从而走出一条具有中国特色、符合中国国情的农业发展道路。 　　本文以辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义为指导，主要采用文献学的研究方法，以明清时期的农书和地方志为主要资料来源，并注意把二者结合起来研究肥料技术。为了能对明清肥料技术的发展水平做出客观的历史评价，本研究还采用了比较研究法，将明清肥料技术与明以前、清以后的肥料技术作比较，通过历史时期的比较分析，揭示明清时期肥料技术的发展特点。此外，运用现代土壤肥料学、植物营养学等现代农业科技知识来分析、评价明清肥料技术的发展水平，也是贯穿本文始终的研究方法之一。 　　本文首先介绍了明清肥料技术发展的历史背景，其次对明清时期施肥理论发展和技术进步情况进行了综合考察，在系统整理分析明清肥料种类和积制技术的基础上，深入探讨肥料种类变化的全国性总趋势与地区性差异，最后，本文以《农政全书》和《沈氏农书》为主，适当参照其它农书和地方志等文献资料，联系一定的自然、社会、经济、技术等因素，系统总结了几种重要作物的施肥技术，并注意研究多熟制下前后茬作物施肥技术之间的内在联系。各章主要内容如下： 　　第一章介绍明清肥料技术发展的社会经济背景。明清永佃制的发展、自耕农的大 　　量存在，表明当时土地的所有权比较稳定，这提高了农民投资土地的积极性，施肥因此在生产中得到重视。明清两代人多地少，人地矛盾推动农业生产技术朝着节约土地的方向发展。施肥是古代可供选择的节约土地的主要技术措施之一，肥料技术因而倍受重视。植棉与养蚕利厚，农民受利润驱使纷纷转入棉花和蚕桑生产。改进提高棉花和桑树施肥技术，是明清夺取棉花和桑树生产丰收的重要保障。明清多熟制的普及和推广，客观上要求生产中多施肥料，以弥补因一岁数获而消耗的地力。明清时期在长江三角洲和珠江三角洲地区出现了“基塘”的经营模式，这种经营模式的成功之处在于它能有效弥补多熟种植对地力的消耗。“基塘”经营模式下，出现了很多新的开辟肥源的方式。　第二章探讨明清施肥理论的发展。清代杨岫在《知本提纲》中，回答了为什么施肥可以维持和提高地力这一问题，其认识水平和19世纪德国化学家李比希提出的“养分归还学说”非常接近。明清以来，黄河流域的两年三熟制、长江流域的稻麦复种制等轮作复种制普遍推行，因一岁数获而消耗的地力随之增多，故而宋代陈旉提出的“地力常新壮”理论，在明清时仍有所发展并得到农学家们的大力提倡。在施肥可以改良土壤并可保持地力经常新壮的思想指导之下，明清两朝的农民重视“广积粪壤”，以致出现了诸如“惜粪如惜金”和“积粪胜如积金”等这样的谚语。这些民间广为流传的谚语，对在农业生产中广辟肥源具有重大指导意义。本章对《宝坻劝农书》、《知本提纲》、《潘丰豫庄本书》和《沈氏农书》中有关基肥和追肥关系的论述及其论据，逐一予以辨析，认为《沈氏农书》对(水稻)基肥和追肥关系以及施追肥时机的论述，最接近现代自然科学认识水平。

Fertilization was highly valued in agricultural production during the Ming and Qing dynasties, to the extent that the saying 'For all farming activities, the core principle is nothing more than "applying sufficient manure and working diligently"' became widespread. A multitude of high-quality fertilizer sources were developed during this period, and significant innovations were made in fertilizer storage and preparation techniques. Research on traditional fertilization techniques during the Ming and Qing dynasties holds great significance for in-depth studies of the history of China's agricultural science and technology, as well as for providing references for the development of modern ecological agriculture.

If a study of Ming and Qing fertilization techniques fails to address the then prevailing socio-economic background, the research can only produce a mere inventory of fertilizer types and fertilization methods, without deepening the understanding of the evolutionary laws and impacts of fertilization techniques. This study connects relevant natural, social, economic, and technical factors, aiming to elucidate the regularities in the development of fertilization techniques during the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as their influences and promotional effects on agricultural production and socio-economic development.

Nowadays, the development of modern inorganic agriculture has increasingly exposed numerous flaws and drawbacks, such as escalating environmental pollution caused by the overuse of chemical fertilizers and declining soil fertility. Many Western scholars have begun to study traditional Chinese agriculture, seeking clues for organic agriculture, and they are particularly interested in China's traditional fertilization techniques. However, since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy, Chinese farmers have increasingly prioritized chemical fertilizers over farmyard (organic) manure, a phenomenon that is still severe in some regions. We should conduct in-depth research on the history of ancient Chinese fertilization, strive to tap into the still-viable parts of traditional fertilization techniques, inherit and carry forward these fine traditions, so as to forge an agricultural development path with Chinese characteristics that suits China's national conditions.

Guided by dialectical materialism and historical materialism, this study mainly adopts the philological research method, taking agricultural treatises and local chronicles from the Ming and Qing dynasties as the primary data sources, and combines these two types of materials to study fertilization techniques. To make an objective historical assessment of the development level of Ming and Qing fertilization techniques, this study also employs comparative research methods, comparing Ming and Qing fertilization techniques with those before the Ming Dynasty and after the Qing Dynasty. Through comparative analysis across historical periods, the developmental characteristics of fertilization techniques during the Ming and Qing dynasties are revealed. In addition, applying modern agricultural scientific and technological knowledge such as modern soil science and fertilization, plant nutrition and other fields to analyze and evaluate the development level of Ming and Qing fertilization techniques is also one of the research methods that run through this paper.

This paper first introduces the historical background of the development of Ming and Qing fertilization techniques, then conducts a comprehensive investigation of the development of fertilization theories and technological progress during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Based on the systematic collation and analysis of fertilizer types and composting techniques in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it deeply explores the national general trend and regional differences in the changes of fertilizer types. Finally, taking *Nongzheng Quanshu (Complete Treatise on Agriculture)* and *Shenshi Nongshu (Shen's Agricultural Treatise)* as the main sources, with appropriate reference to other agricultural treatises, local chronicles and other documentary materials, and connecting relevant natural, social, economic, and technical factors, this paper systematically summarizes the fertilization techniques for several important crops, and pays attention to the internal connection between the fertilization techniques of preceding and succeeding crops under multiple cropping systems. The main contents of each chapter are as follows:

Chapter 1 introduces the socio-economic background for the development of Ming and Qing fertilization techniques. The development of permanent land tenancy systems and the large number of yeoman farmers during the Ming and Qing dynasties indicated that land ownership was relatively stable at that time, which enhanced farmers' enthusiasm for investing in land, thus leading to the increased emphasis on fertilization in agricultural production. The Ming and Qing dynasties faced a severe population-land conflict, which promoted agricultural production technologies to develop in the direction of land conservation. Fertilization was one of the main technical measures available in ancient times to save land, so fertilization techniques received great attention. Cotton planting and sericulture brought high profits, so farmers were driven by profits to shift to cotton and sericulture production. Improving the fertilization techniques for cotton and mulberry trees was an important guarantee for bumper harvests in cotton and sericulture production during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The popularization and promotion of multiple cropping systems during the Ming and Qing dynasties objectively required more fertilizer application in production to compensate for the soil fertility depletion caused by multiple harvests per year. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the "dike-pond" business model emerged in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions. The success of this business model lies in its effective compensation for the soil fertility depletion caused by multiple cropping. Under the dike-pond business model, many new ways of developing fertilizer sources appeared.

Chapter 2 discusses the development of fertilization theories during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the Qing Dynasty, Yang Xiu, in his *Zhiben Tigang (Outline of Fundamental Governance)*, answered the question of why fertilization can maintain and improve soil fertility. His level of understanding was very close to the "nutrient return theory" proposed by the German chemist Justus von Liebig in the 19th century. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, rotation and multiple cropping systems such as the two-year three-harvest system in the Yellow River Basin and the rice-wheat double cropping system in the Yangtze River Basin have been widely implemented. The soil fertility depletion caused by multiple harvests per year increased accordingly, so the theory of "soil fertility remains perpetually new and vigorous" put forward by Chen Fu of the Song Dynasty was further developed during the Ming and Qing dynasties and vigorously advocated by agronomists. Guided by the idea that fertilization can improve soil and maintain perpetual soil fertility, farmers in the Ming and Qing dynasties attached great importance to "collecting abundant manure and soil amendments", leading to the widespread circulation of proverbs such as "Cherish manure as you cherish gold" and "Collecting manure is better than collecting gold". These widely circulated proverbs have great guiding significance for developing fertilizer sources in agricultural production. This chapter analyzes and discriminates the discussions and arguments on the relationship between base fertilizer and topdressing from *Baodi Quannong Shu (Book for Advocating Agriculture in Baodi)*, *Zhiben Tigang (Outline of Fundamental Governance)*, *Pan Fengyu Zhuang Benshu (Pan Fengyu's Agricultural Book)*, and *Shenshi Nongshu (Shen's Agricultural Treatise)* one by one, and concludes that the discussions on the relationship between (rice) base fertilizer and topdressing and the timing of topdressing application in *Shenshi Nongshu (Shen's Agricultural Treatise)* are the closest to the level of modern natural science understanding.