Zhang Shou was not an expert in farming. However, when he was young, he would go to his hometown village to live for a few months every year. He would go to the fields and enjoy the rural scenery. He also learned a lot of useful and unusable knowledge from his uncle who ran a large-scale business.
Therefore, even if he really had to go to the fields, he could only pretend to do it, such as the last time he took the third and fourth princes to harvest wheat... But when it comes to theory, especially breeding and hybridization, which few people are involved in nowadays, he can definitely pretend to be an expert in agronomy. Therefore, he then began his agricultural knowledge lecture with earnest words.
"Not only should we not allow artificial hybridization between domestic cotton and overseas cotton, we should also be on guard against natural hybridization. What is natural hybridization? It means that two cotton fields of different types are too close to each other, and insects that can pollinate, such as bees and butterflies, can naturally pollinate the two different cotton fields, causing natural hybridization and the degeneration of overseas cotton varieties."
"Oh, it's not just natural hybridization that causes the degeneration of varieties. Cotton is a very difficult thing to take care of. That's why, before this dynasty, although cotton was introduced from the west, it was always difficult to promote it because it would naturally degenerate. If artificial selection is not often carried out after planting for a long time, natural selection will prevail, and the cotton produced will eventually become less and less."
"You ask what natural selection is? Natural selection is like... well, the tallest tree in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. Anyway, for cotton, natural selection means that small plants, small fruits, and small seeds are more likely to survive. If you don't take good care of them and keep selecting seeds of large plants, large fruits, and large seeds to plant, then after two or three generations, the growth will become worse and worse..."
Natural hybridization, self-pollination, degeneration, purification and rejuvenation, artificial selection is greater than natural selection...
As a result, Zhu Er saw Zhu Ying follow Ah Liu out of the house without hesitation, and Xiao Huasheng only hesitated for a moment before quickly following behind. He was also confused, but he finally remembered that he only had the image of a good farmer left. If he ran away like this, he would be beaten to death by his father when he returned just because he ran away from home and accomplished nothing.
Therefore, he could only listen carefully and remember what he didn't understand. The only thing that made him feel balanced was that Lao Xianyu also listened with dull eyes, obviously he didn't understand.
The reason why Zhang Shou deliberately talked incessantly was, firstly, to test Zhu Er's patience, and secondly, to see whether the old salted fish was really like he said, a good farmer who had worked hard to cultivate crops. As it turned out, he guessed right. This old and wrinkled salted fish might have the corresponding good seed resources and manpower to plant, and might have planted the land, but he did not grow the vegetable garden himself.
At least when it comes to growing cotton, Lao Xianyu is definitely not as persistent as he says.
Come to think of it, this old man runs a salted fish shop on Shuishi Street, and he goes out to play chess with people every few days, looking like a salted fish who should enjoy his old age. And he also tends to the vegetable garden every day? And he is also trying hard to grow cotton? This must be a lie!
Therefore, after a one-sided and endless lecture on the theoretical knowledge of cotton breeding, purification and anti-degeneration, Zhang Shou watched the dizzy Old Salted Fish leave with a dry laugh. He glanced at Zhu Er rubbing his temples as if relieved. He was too lazy to tease the poor boy and was about to ask him what he thought of Old Salted Fish's vegetable garden, but who knew that Ah Liu's voice came from outside.