"Having arrived at some laws governing the growth of peanuts, I continued experimenting, using these laws to increase the peanut yield. Obviously, the best should be gotten out of the first pair of branches. To favor them shallow sowing was preferable, as it would facilitate the bearing of pods by that first pair of branches, which grew at the base of the plant. But out soil was generally dry in spring. Moreover, such large, oil-rich seeds did not sprout easily. Shallow sowing would allow the seeds to dry so that not all of them would sprout. The yield could scarcely be increased by shallow sowing. Since the principal contradiction was between all the seeds sprouting and growing well, and not doing so, the method of shallow sowing was out. We would sow the seeds as deep as was necessary to ensure sufficient moisture for sprouting and growth. Deep ploughing having been decided on, the problem arose of the first pair of branches: buried deep in the soil they would have little chance of developing. Formerly a secondary contradiction, this problem rose to primacy. To solve it I turned to On Contradiction, where Chairman Mao points out: “It [materialist dialectics] holds that external causes are the condition of change and internal causes are the basis of change, and that external causes become operative through internal causes.” I analyzed that the first pair of branches, which blossomed early with many flowers, was the internal factor in increasing output. Deep planting however, would not favor the branches’ growth, so their productive potential would not be given full play. These external conditions would tend to restrict yield. Practice provided an answer. It came one day when I was helping former poor peasant Want Tien-yuan thin out glutinous millet shoots. I asked him why we didn’t bank earth around them. He said, “If the roots are not exposed to the sun, the plants won’t produce much grain.” It occurred to me that if the millet shoots branched off from exposed roots, why not with peanuts? We could sow deep but remove the earth around the roots so as to facilitate their branching off. I tried this with a cluster of peanut plants. The exposed main stems were white and tender, so that there was water on my hand when I rolled them between my fingers. Wouldn’t such tender roots be withered by the sun? Still, I mustn’t jump to conclusions, but see what practice said. I removed the earth around twenty-two clusters. To my surprise, not only were the peanut plants not dry, but the main stems had turned purple and were as tough as sapling branches. I had found a solution to the contradiction between deep planting and developing the first pair of branches. When I discussed this method with our brigade cadres, they decided to set aside four small plots for experiment. That autumn we harvested 25 per cent more peanuts from those plots than from the controls."
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:45:29 +0000
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