This earliest intact work on agriculture in China was

written by Jia Sixie of Northern Wei Dynasty. Jia was an

official, and also a manager of agricultural production.

Written in about AD 533-544, this book consists of 10

volumes with 110,000 Chinese characters. Its 92 articles

discuss the cultivation of grain crops, vegetables, fruits,

bamboo and trees; raising of livestock, poultry and fish;

processing of farm products, making of wine and liquor, and

other sideline operations. The book sums up the experience

in agricultural production in the middle and lower reaches of

the Yellow River. The book shows that agricultural

production in China was quite advanced at that time: dry farming, grafting of pear trees, propagation

of saplings, castration of livestock and poultry for fatting, and farm produce processing techniques.