What was the widely used seedling pulling tool in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the Song Dynasty?

After the Tang and Song Dynasties, the economic center of China shifted from the Central Plains to the Yangtze River valley in the south, and rice cultivation was widely promoted, ranking first in grain output. Therefore, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River began to vigorously develop the farming economy and plant rice. In the process of planting rice, many agricultural tools have appeared to improve the planting efficiency. Here, I will introduce a seedling pulling tool-Ma Yang, which was widely used in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the Song Dynasty.

Seedling horse is a tool for transplanting rice seedlings, which began in the Northern Song Dynasty and became popular. Generally, the inside of seedling hemp is made of jujube and elm, and the outside is made of catalpa and paulownia. Its shape is similar to a boat, its head and tail are bent upwards, and the concave position of the rear tile and the seedling horse can be convenient for individuals to ride and pull out seedlings. When transplanting rice seedlings, people sit in their stomachs, insert the seedlings placed at the bow into the paddy field with their right hands, and then move the seedlings backwards with their feet. When pulling out the seedlings, pull up the seedlings with both hands and tie them into a bundle with ropes or weeds and put them on the boat, which effectively improves the labor efficiency and reduces the amount of labor. Su Shi, a famous poet, also wrote a preface to the Song of Raising Horses, praising and publicizing this tool for pulling out seedlings.

In fact, there were many inventions in agriculture in ancient China. For example, the curved plow invented by farmers in the south of the Yangtze River in the Tang Dynasty solved the problems of difficult rotary tillage and laborious farming, which made it possible to turn around and turn when plowing, with flexible operation and time-saving and labor-saving; There is also a kind of water roller car, which is a tool to take water for irrigation by using the power of water flow. Generally set in the water near the river, the shape is very similar to the modern ferris wheel. There are many bamboo buckets installed obliquely around the wheel. When the main wheel is driven by hydraulic power to rotate, the buckets around the wheel will be filled with water in turn, and when it reaches the top, it will be dumped, caught by wooden trough and finally flowed into the canal field for irrigation.

It can be seen that our ancestors were very wise. When they were backward in ancient times and had no scientific principles, they could use the power of nature to invent some tools to help themselves, which greatly saved manpower and animal power and improved production efficiency.