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Complete Treatise on Agriculture
 As a versatile scientist, Xu Guangqi (1562-1633) of the Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644) attained scientific achievements in a multiple of areas,
with his most far-reaching and influential work being done in agriculture,
highlighted by his masterpiece work Complete Treatise on Agriculture (known in
Chinese as Nongzheng Quanshu).
The book was published in 1639, six years after Xu's death. As an
agricultural encyclopedia, it covers a wide range of subjects, such as
irrigation, farm tools, planting trees, herding, manufacturing, and sericulture
(silkworm breeding). The book basically includes all the subjects concerned to
almost all the domains in the life and production of ancient Chinese people.
Besides, Xu's political thought of attaching great importance on agriculture
permeates throughout the work; this characteristic differentiates Xu's work from
his counterparts, such as the Important Arts for the People's Welfare by Jia
Sixie. The other works, though also greatly emphasizing agriculture, focus more
on agricultural technologies and knowledge. In other words, those works are more
like pure agricultural technological books.
Complete Treatise on Agriculture is basically composed of two parts:
agricultural measures and technologies, with the former as the guiding principle
and the latter discussing how to realize the principle. Thus it includes a lot
of unique contents on reclamation and irrigation.
The book also covers relief policies and measures adopted by the government
in years of famine, which actually take as much as half the book's whole
content, something that was unprecedented. For instance, while the governmental
relief policy in famine were occasionally discussed in previous agricultural
writings, it was limited to only a very short length, and usually introduced
only a few plants that could be grown well in years of famine. By comparison,
this subject is the longest chapter in Xu's book.
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