Chapter 12 Section Five Agronomic Thoughts Centered on the "Three Talents" Theory

Traditional Chinese agricultural science and technology is based on intuitive experience, but it is not limited to the scope of pure experience, but has formed its own agricultural theory.This kind of agricultural theory is formed on the basis of practical experience, and it is expressed as a number of philosophical guiding principles, so it can also be called agricultural thought. The "three talents" theory is its core and general outline, and all Chinese ancient agricultural books use the "three talents" theory as the basis for their arguments. The "three talents" refer to heaven, earth, and people, or the way of heaven, the way of authenticity, and the way of humanity.The term first appeared in the "Yi Zhuan" in the Warring States Period, but this idea can be traced back to earlier times.As an important concept in traditional Chinese philosophy, the theory of "three talents" regards heaven, earth and man as the three major elements in the composition of the universe, and uses this as an analytical framework to apply to various fields.The clear expression of the relationship between heaven, earth and people in agricultural production was first seen in the "Shenshi" chapter of "Lu Shi Chunqiu":

Husband and crops are made by people, they are born by the earth, and they are raised by heaven. "Jia" refers to crops. To expand it, it may also be understood as agricultural organisms, which are the objects of agricultural production. "Heaven" and "earth" here do not refer to the personal Godhead with will, but refer to the natural climate, soil, terrain, etc., which belong to the environmental factors of agricultural production.Human beings are the main body of agricultural production.Therefore, the above quotation is a simple summary of the relationship between crops (or agricultural organisms), the natural environment, and human labor in agricultural production. It regards agricultural production as a whole composed of crops, heaven, earth, and human factors.We know that agriculture is based on the process of growth, development, maturity and reproduction of crops, livestock and poultry, etc. This is natural reproduction, but this process is carried out under the intervention of human labor and according to the predetermined goals of human beings. , so it is economic reproduction.Agriculture is the unity of natural reproduction and economic reproduction.As natural reproduction, agricultural organisms cannot do without its surrounding natural environment; as economic reproduction, agricultural organisms cannot do without humans who are the leaders of agricultural production.Agriculture is an interdependent and mutually restrictive ecological system and economic system composed of agricultural organisms, natural environment and human beings.That's the nature of farming. The above-mentioned summary in "Lu Shi Chun Qiu Shen Shi" touches on this essence of agriculture.

The theory of "three talents" regards agricultural production as a dynamic whole in which various factors are interrelated.The overall view, connection view and dynamic view of agricultural production contained in it run through all aspects of traditional agricultural production technology in our country.Some examples are given below to illustrate. In the long-term practice of farming according to the time, the ancient people of our country gradually realized the interrelationship of various meteorological factors in climate change, thus deepening the understanding of the essence of "time". In "Shangshu" there is "Hong Fan", which is the great law of heaven and earth stated to him by Jizi after King Wu of Zhou conquered Shang.Among them, "time" is summarized as rain, Yang (yang) (sunrise is Yang), warm (warm), cold, and wind, which are equivalent to the precipitation, sunshine, humidity, temperature, and airflow. And so on, these five factors cooperate in a certain amount, grow and decline in a certain order, and all things prosper.If a certain factor is too much or too little, it is not conducive to the growth of crops.The concept of "six qi" was developed in the Spring and Autumn Period. "Qi" is a flowing subtle substance that constitutes the essence of "Heaven", while "time" is the order presented by the operation of "Qi".Later, the solar terms of the calendar formulated according to the timing of climate change were also called "time".Chen Yan's "Agricultural Book" said: "All things receive qi due to time, and produce due to qi. When the time comes, qi arrives, and physiology is caused by it." The "time" here refers to the four seasons, eight festivals and twenty-four solar terms stipulated in the calendar; " "Air" refers to climate factors such as temperature, moisture, and light.The twenty-four solar terms and so on are formulated according to the law of climate change, but since it has been fixed, it is impossible to reflect the actual change of climate every year without error. not yet” phenomenon occurs.At this time, rigidly arranging agricultural affairs according to the "time" in the calendar will hit a wall.Therefore, it is necessary not only to "examine astronomy", but also to "experimentally examine physics", and arrange farming on the basis of adapting to actual changes in climate.

As early as the pre-Qin period, people realized that under certain soil and climate conditions, there are corresponding plants and biological communities; and each agricultural organism or its variety has its own suitable environment. "Kao Gong Ji": "Oranges cross the Huai River and the north is trifoliate oranges, robins [quyu canal jade] do not exceed the economy, and raccoon dogs die if they cross the wen, this place is also aura." This is the ancient Chinese theory of customs.The so-called terroir is explained in Wang Zhen's "Nongshu" as "Fashion on the ground, each with its own orientation, the soil is suitable for it, because it changes with the gas", which actually refers to the different climates and soils in different places.The climatic conditions vary from place to place, and "what is suitable for products often varies from place to place".Conversely, the different characteristics of organisms are the result of natural selection under different environmental conditions.Chen Haozi in the Qing Dynasty said: "Since the world where vegetation grows is different, how can the temperament of vegetation be the same?" It seems that he has vaguely realized this point.This theory of terroir is reasonable, but it should not be fixed and absolute.In the long-term practice of introduction and breeding, people have gradually realized that the relationship between agricultural organisms and climatic conditions is not fixed.Through field investigations in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Jia Sixie saw that the introduction of crops to new environments would cause mutations. For example, the garlic introduced from Chaoge, Henan in Bingzhou, Shanxi degenerated into garlic, and the turnip tubers introduced from other places became larger.At the same time, he saw that crops have the ability to gradually adapt to new environments.He took the Sichuan prickly ash introduced from Qingzhou, Shandong as an example: "This thing is not cold-resistant. The tree in the sun is wrapped in winter grass, and it will die if it is not wrapped; if it is born in the small shade, it is less cold, so it does not need to be wrapped. The so-called habit. " ("Qi Min Yao Shu · Planting Pepper Forty-third") Here "Xi" refers to the gradual adaptation to new environmental conditions, and "nature" refers to new characteristics that are different from the original ones.In fact, the success of introduced species in history is the result of the "accustomed nature" of agricultural organisms with artificial assistance.In the Yuan Dynasty, the government promoted cotton and ramie in the Central Plains, but some people opposed it on the grounds that the terroir was unsuitable. Meng Qi, one of the authors of "Nongsang Collection", refuted it in a special article.The article lists the successful cases of introduction in the history of our country, and shows that under human intervention, some original habits of agricultural organisms can be changed to adapt to the new environment, thus breaking through the original terroir restrictions.The significance of this theory of terroir rather than only terroir is to point out that the characteristics of agricultural organisms are variable, and the relationship between agricultural organisms and the environment is also variable.This is obviously a theoretical generalization made by people who have accumulated rich experience from long-term domestication, introduction and breeding practices.

Under the guidance of this holistic view, people see the relationship between this part of the organism and that part, between this growth stage and that growth stage, and see the relationship between various organisms in the agricultural ecosystem. connect and use it.We have mentioned many examples in this regard above, and I can list some more here.For example, when discussing crop varieties, Jia Sixie pointed out: dwarf varieties of cereal crops are high-yield and early-maturing, but often of poor quality; high-stalk varieties are low-yielding and late-maturing, but often of good quality.What we are talking about here is the relationship between the external morphology of crop plants and the yield and quality. The keenness and correctness of its observations have amazed modern breeders.Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the increase of my country's rice production has benefited to a considerable extent from a group of improved varieties of rice with short stalks and high yield. Now, the promotion of improved varieties of wheat with short stalks has and continues to open up broad prospects for increasing wheat production; and the dwarf varieties The contradiction between yield and quality is still a problem that breeders need to work hard to solve.Physiognomy also infers the intrinsic qualities of livestock from their external appearance.The oldest surviving monograph on Chinese veterinary medicine in my country - Li Shi's "Si Mu An Ji Ji" said: "A person who is good at looking after horses can point out which horses are good horses by changing the reins." , rough and fine, and the energy starts from the proximity of the shape and the utensil, and finally reaches the ingenuity of the secret!"This is similar to traditional Chinese medicine, which uses observation, hearing, and questioning to know the pathology of viscera, and both reflect the Chinese unique holistic way of thinking.Our ancestors paid attention not only to individual agricultural organisms, but also to groups of agricultural organisms.For example, "Rendi" and "Biantu" in the earliest agricultural treatise "Lushi Chunqiu" in my country advocated the practice of drill seeding, reasonable dense planting and intertillage thinning on the basis of 10 acres of farmland, so that the rows of crops are neat and ventilated. The light is transparent, there is enough space for growth, and they can support each other when they grow up, which forms a reasonable crop group structure, changes disorder into order, and improves the production capacity of agricultural organisms as a whole.This is indeed much better than the practice of spreading in the Middle Ages in Western Europe, where the crops were scattered and disorderly in the field.Later, this group structure developed from a single crop to multiple crops or multiple agricultural organisms.In such an agro-ecological system, people skillfully utilize the relationship of mutual growth and mutual restraint among various organisms.For example, intercropping and crop rotation and multiple cropping are to use the mutual suppression or mutual benefit relationship between crops to form a reasonable crop group structure.Chen Yan pointed out that as long as we make full use of the right time and place and make reasonable arrangements, all kinds of crops can be "produced one after another, utilized by mutual resources, planted without a day, and harvested without a month" (Chen Yan's "Agricultural Book").

It is also under the guidance of this holistic view that ancient Chinese agriculture attaches great importance to the reuse of waste materials in the agricultural system.Most of the fertilizers in ancient China came from this kind of waste.Fertilizer is a modern vocabulary. In ancient times, fertilizer was called "dung", and its original meaning is to discard, that is, the useless organic and inorganic substances removed from the residence. Now it is commonly called "garbage".Since these rubbish are used as fertilizer, the word dung also takes on the meaning of fertilizer.This change in the meaning of the word dung shows that the Chinese have long understood the utilization of waste in agriculture.Wang Zhen's "Agricultural Book" said: "The filth and rotten things that the husband sweeps up are ignored by people, and the fields are rewarded with richness. Only those who work on their own (people engaged in agriculture) know it. The so-called cherishing dung is like cherishing gold. Therefore, it can turn evil into beauty, and grow less and reap more." In the "Outline of Zhiben" in the Qing Dynasty, Yang Qi further summarized this relationship as "residual air cultivation", pointing out that the parts of agricultural products that humans cannot directly use and the parts of humans and animals Excreta contains energy that can be recycled and reused in agricultural production, which is a preliminary theoretical expression of material circulation and energy conversion in agricultural ecosystems.Some multi-variety and multi-level three-dimensional production methods created by ancient agriculture in our country are the embodiment of the idea of ​​biological mutual support and recycling.

In the theoretical system of "Three Talents", man is juxtaposed with heaven and earth, which itself contains the thought that "man is the most precious between heaven and earth".In a sense, man is in a dominant position, but man does not appear as the ruler of nature, he is a participant in the natural process; the relationship between man and nature is not a confrontation, but a harmonious relationship; although the relationship between man and nature Collisions are inevitable, but order and harmony are always pursued by people.As early as the pre-Qin period in our country, the idea of ​​protecting natural resources had emerged.The growth of agricultural organisms in the natural environment has its objective laws.Human beings can intervene in this process to make it conform to their own goals, but they cannot override nature and violate objective laws.Jia Sixie said: "When the weather is right and the land is right, you will succeed more with less effort. If you let your emotions go back to the way, you will get nothing if you work hard" ("Qi Min Yao Shu"), which is what he means.Therefore, traditional Chinese agriculture always emphasizes adapting measures to the time, place, and material conditions, the so-called "three appropriates", and regards this as the principle that all agricultural measures must follow.But people are not powerless in the face of objective laws; when people understand the objective laws, they have the initiative, can "steal the time and advantage of the world" (Chen Yan's words), and can conquer the sky by man.Ma Yilong in the Ming Dynasty said: "Knowing the time is the most important thing, and knowing the soil is second. Know what is appropriate, and use it without abandoning it; No merit." ("Nong Shuo") profoundly expounded the dialectical relationship between respecting objective laws and exerting subjective initiative.

The theory of "three talents" is an important guiding ideology of intensive cultivation technology.The basic requirement of intensive farming is to give full play to human subjective initiative on the basis of observing objective laws, use the favorable aspects of natural conditions, overcome their disadvantages, and strive for high yields.Intensive farming pays more attention to human labor ("force"), and more attention to the understanding of natural laws ("knowledge").The series of intensive farming techniques discussed above are all based on the understanding of the dialectical relationship between agricultural organisms and various factors of the agricultural environment.

Regarding the "human" factor, in addition to the relationship between "force" and "knowledge", there is also the relationship between "force" and "harmony".The ancients often talked about "manpower" and "human harmony".The so-called "force" refers to human labor.In ancient agriculture, land and labor are two basic elements.The ancients understood this very early in agricultural practice, so they took "force" as the basic connotation of the "human" factor.However, agriculture is not carried out by isolated individuals alone, but in a certain social organization. Therefore, it is necessary to coordinate the relationship between each other so that many individual forces form a joint force and do not cancel each other out.From this, the concept of "human harmony" is formed.As early as the Warring States Period, "time, location, and harmony" became the most popular and typical expression of the "three talents" theory.It can be seen from this that, even for the human factor, the ancients examined it from the whole.

Needham, a famous British expert on the history of Chinese science and technology, believes that China's view of science and technology is an organic and unified view of nature.In this regard, there is probably no more typical example than in ancient Chinese agricultural science and technology. The "three talents" theory is the crystallization of this way of thinking. This kind of theory is not transplanted from ancient Chinese philosophy to agricultural production, but the sublimation of long-term practical experience in agricultural production.It was produced in the ancient agricultural practice of our country and developed along with the agricultural practice.