Some people thought Jia Sixie was a lucky man.He had worked for the emperor and when he got old, he was able to go to his hometown to relax. Jia Sixie, however, had other plans. He had always been interested in agriculture and intended to do something to make Chinese farming even better.

  Jia Sixie lived in the sixth century AD. He was born in Yidu in Shandong Province and worked in Gaoyang, which is also in Shandong. As he rode through the countryside on his journeys for his work he looked out at the fields. Some of them were greener and had more crops than others. Some cows and sheep looked healthier than others too. He was lost in thought. What could a farmer do to get good crops from his fields? Surely there must be rules that would help them. He thought he could use his knowledge to find out the best ways for farmers to grow crops and then write a book to help them. In doing so he collected information from farmers who did well, studied it and did experiments to find the best way.

  For example, he studied ways of keeping seeds and advised farmers to choose seed-heads which had the best colour. Then he told them to hang them up to dry all winter. The next spring the seeds should be knocked out of their seed-heads and planted. He studied how to improve the soil. He advised farmers to cleat weeds from the ground before planting crops. They could either let the animals eat the weeds or turn the soil over so that the weeds were covered and would rot. Then he gave advice on turning over the soil. The first time each year, farmers should dig deeply, but the second time should be less deep. Therefore the autumn ploughing of the soil should be deeper than the spring ploughing. He suggested changing crops in the field every year: rice one year and wheat the next so that they would always get good harvests. They should also grow different plants next to each other in the field. He also gave advice on how to fish, keep a garden and even make wine.

  He wrote down his advice in a book called QiMin Yao Shu, which was considered an important summary of the knowledge of farming. For centuries after Jia Sixie died, it was studied by Chinese farmers and students of agriculture.