Nongsajikseol - How to assess the quality of uncultivated land

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荒地辨試之法 How to assess the quality of uncultivated land

Original Script

1. ○ 荒地辨試之法.
2. 斸土一尺深, 嘗其味.
3. 甛者爲上,
4. 不甛不醎者次之,
5. 醎者爲下.
6. ○ 濕田, 不宜種穀處,
7. 經霜後,
8. 刈草剉之, 厚布田中,
9. 種小麥則麥極好,
10. 而翌年變爲乾田,
11. 至種木花亦宜.
12. <慶尙左道人 行之>

Previous Translations

Korean Translation, Version 1

1. ○ 거친 땅(황무지)의 토양의 좋고 나쁨을 변별하는 방법
2. 한 자(약 2 cm)정도의 흙을 찍어 내어 그 맛을 보아
3. 맛이 단 것은 좋은 토양이고
4. 달지도 짜지도 않은 것이 다음으로 좋은 토양이며
5. 짠 맛이 나는 것이 가장 좋지 않은 토양이다.
6. ○ ‘밭이 습하여 곡식을 경작하기 마땅하지 않은 곳은
7. ○ 습한 밭으로 곡식을 심기에 적당하지 않는 곳은
8. 서리가 내리기를 기다린 후에
9. 풀을 베어 두텁게 덮고
10. 소맥을 경작하면 지극히 좋다.
11. (소맥을 경작한) 다음 해에는 (토질이) 변하여 건조한 밭이 되므로
12. 목화를 심으면 역시 마땅하다.
13. <경상좌도인이 행한다.>

Korean Translation, Version 2

1. ○ 미경작지 토양의 좋고 나쁨을 변별하는 방법은
2. 한 자 깊이(약 23 cm)의 흙을 찍어내어 그 맛을 보아
3. 맛이 단 것은 좋은 토양이고
4. 달지도 짜지도 않은 것이 다음으로 좋은 토양이며
5. 짠 맛이 나는 것이 가장 좋지 않은 토양이다.
6. 서리가 내리기를 기다린 후에
7. 풀을 베어 썰어서 두껍게 덮은 후
8. 밀을 심은즉 밀에도 극히 좋다.
9. (밀을 경작한) 다음 해에는 (토질이) 변하여 건조한 밭이 되므로
10. 목화를 심어도 또한 좋게 된다.
11. <경상도 동쪽에 사는 사람들이 행하고 있다.>

Korean Translation, RDA

1. ○ 거친 땅의 좋고 나쁨을 알아보는 방법은
2. 한 자 깊이의 흙을 찍어내어 그 맛을 보아
3. 맛이 단 듯하면 으뜸가는 토양이며
4. 단맛도 짠맛도 없는 것은 중간이며
5. 짠맛이 드는 것은 가장 좋지 않다.
6. ○ 습한 밭으로 곡식을 심기에 적당하지 않는 곳은
7. 서리가 내린 후
8. 풀을 베어 썰어서 두껍게 덮은 후
9. 밀을 심은즉 밀에도 극히 좋고
10. 이듬해 마른 밭으로 변하여
11. 목화를 심어도 좋다.
12. <경상좌도 사람들이 행하고 있다.>

Korean Translation, NKV

1. ○ 황지를 개간할 때에 좋은 땅과 나쁜 땅을 식별하는 방법은 다음과 같다.
2. 즉 땅 한 자쯤 깊이의 흙을 파내여 맛을 본다.
3. 그 흙맛이 단 것은 가장 좋은 땅이고
4. 달지도 않고 짜지도 않은 것은 그 다음 가는 땅이고
5. 짠 것은 좋지 못한 땅이다.
6. ○ 농작물을 심을 수 없는 습전에는
7. 서리가 내린 후에
8. 풀을 베여 그것을 썰어서 밭에 펴 놓았다가
9. 밀을 심으면 그것이 매우 잘되고
10. 그 다음 해에는 습전이 변하여 건전(乾田)으로 되며
11. 심지어 목화까지도 심을 수 있다.
12. <경상좌도 사람들이 이처럼 한다.>

English Translation, Version 1

1. ○ How to Assess the Quality of Wasteland
2. Scoop up some dirt from a depth of one ch’ŏk (approx. 2 cm) and taste it.
3. If sweet, it is of the highest quality.
4. If neither sweet nor salty, it is of the next best quality,
5. ○ Wet wastelands are unsuitable for planting grain,
6. but when the frost falls, with the passing of late summer,
7. cut the weeds and spread them thickly over the field.
8. If wheat is planted, then there will be a bountiful harvest
9. the following year and the wet fields will change into dry fields
10. and become appropriate for planting cotton,
11. (as practiced by the people in the western area of Kyŏngsang Province).

English Translation, Version 2

1. ○ How to Assess the Quality of Uncultivated Land
2. Scoop up some dirt from a depth of one ch’ŏk (approx. 23 cm) and taste it.
3. If sweet, it is of the highest quality.
4. If neither sweet nor salty, it is of the second best quality,
5. and if salty, it is of the lowest quality.
6. ○ At places where the ill-drained paddy field is unsuitable for planting grain,
7. when the frost falls, with the passing of late summer,
8. [cut the grass], chop it and spread it thickly over the field.
9. If wheat is planted, then the [quality of] wheat will be extremely good
10. and in the following year [the field] will turn into dry farmland
11. and then become appropriate for planting cotton also,
12. (as practiced by the people in the eastern area of Kyŏngsang Province).

Students' Contribution

Student 1: 린지

How to Assess the Quality of Uncultivated Land

Scoop up some dirt from a depth of one cheok [approx. 20 cm] and taste it. If sweet, it is of the highest quality; If neither sweet nor salty, it is of the second best quality; If salty, it is of the lowest quality.

[In the case of] water-saturated fields where grains cannot be planted, wait until the first frost, then cut and rip up grass and spread it thickly over the field. If wheat is planted, then the [quality of] wheat will be extremely good. In the following year [the field] will turn into dry farmland and become suitable for planting cotton (as is practiced by the people of eastern Gyeongsang-do province).

Comments

• Corrected some confusing wording and ommitted some words such as "then, also" etc. that were not in the original text.
• Should 尺 be rendered as 자 or 척?
• Evelyn mentioned about the term 좌도. The first English translation was incorrect, so the second one was changed. 경상좌도is the eastern half of Gyeongsang-do provice because the East is to the "left" when looking at Gyeongsang-do from the perspective of the king in Hanyang.
• How to translate 濕田? How about "water-saturated fields"? Rather than "wet wastelands" or "ill-drained paddy field"
• 刈草剉之
  • "cut and rip up" seems more natural and clear than "cut and chop up" / ripping and chopping are different motions... ripping is correct
• 經霜後 서리가 내리기를 기다린 후에
  • In English, to my knowledge, we don't use the expression "when frost falls"
  • If this is the first frost of the autumn, then I recommend saying "wait until the first frost"
• Why are they planting wheat in autumn?
  • Winter wheat - planted Sept to November, harvested the next year

Terms

• 尺 자, 척
• frost
• grass
• wheat
• cotton
• Gyeongsang-do province
• eastern Gyeongsang-do province

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Student 2: 에벨린

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• Line 1
  • ○ 荒地辨試之法
  • ○ 거친 땅(황무지)의 토양의 좋고 나쁨을 변별하는 방법 (Kor. Version 1)
  • ○ 미경작지 토양의 좋고 나쁨을 변별하는 방법은 (Kor. Version 2)
  • ○ 거친 땅의 좋고 나쁨을 알아보는 방법은 (Kor. RDA)
  • ○ 황지를 개간할 때에 좋은 땅과 나쁜 땅을 식별하는 방법은 다음과 같다.(Kor. NKV)
  • ○ How to Assess the Quality of Wasteland (Eng. Version1)
  • ○ How to Assess the Quality of Uncultivated Land (Eng. Version 2)
    • Can we include the "good or bad" sense in the English translation as well?
    • Following the meaning of the characters: to compare and discern? to test and distinguish?
• Line 2
  • Unit of measure: 1 尺
    • Ch'ok: prior to Tang (seventh century), approximately 24 centimeters (approximately 9.5 inches), and from Tang forward, approximately 30.5 centimeters (12 inches).
    • Often rendered as ‘foot’.
• Lines 3, 4 and 5
  • Sweet soil: An old-fashioned term used to denote soil that is limy or alkaline. Originates from when settlers moving westward would stop at a desirable homestead site and test the soil by tasting a bit of soil. Alkaline soil has a sweet taste, especially when compared to acidic soil which is sour.
  • Salty soil: A soil may be rich in salts because the parent rock from which it was formed contains salts. Seawater is another source of salts in low-lying areas along the coast. A very common source of salts in irrigated soils is the irrigation water itself. Most irrigation waters contain some salts. After irrigation, the water added to the soil is used by the crop or evaporates directly from the moist soil. The salt, however, is left behind in the soil. If not removed, it accumulates in the soil; this process is called salinization. Very salty soils are sometimes recognizable by a white layer of dry salt on the soil surface
• Line 6
  • ○ 濕田, 不宜種穀處,
  • ○ ‘밭이 습하여 곡식을 경작하기 마땅하지 않은 곳은 (Kor. V 1)
  • Missing (Kor. V 2)
  • ○ 습한 밭으로 곡식을 심기에 적당하지 않는 곳은 (Kor. RDA)
  • ○ 농작물을 심을 수 없는 습전에는 (Kor. NKV)
  • ○ Wet wastelands are unsuitable for planting grain, (Eng. V 1)
  • ○ At places where the ill-drained paddy field is unsuitable for planting grain, (Eng. V 2)
    • [In] places unsuitable for planting grain, such as wet fields?
• Line 7
  • 經霜後
  • With the passing of late summer? Where does this come from? It is included neither in the hanmun nor in any Korean version.
  • Extant note: 霜’ refers to ‘秋官’
• Line 12
  • 慶尙左道
  • 조선시대에 경상도 지방의 행정구역을 동·서로 나누었을 때 경상도 동부 지역의 행정구역.
  • The English translations use both western and eastern.

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Student 4: 안카

Line 1, 5

'uncultivated land' vs 'wasteland'

Land use categories - link 1 link 2

<Barren and Wastelands : The land which may be classified as a wasteland such as barren hilly terrains, desert lands, ravines, etc. normally cannot be brought under cultivation with the available technology .>

<Culturable Waste-Land : Any land which is left fallow (uncultivated) for more than five years is included in this category. It can be brought under cultivation after improving it through reclamation practices.>

Uncultivated land / Fallow land

Fallow land: (of farmland) plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production.

On tasting the soil

Soil tasting the old fashioned way

<Civilizations have risen (and fallen) on the health of their soils, and our ancestors had plenty of tricks up their sleeves to identify and nurture the earth that supported them.>

Soil Ph

Alkaline > 7.4 Acidic < 6.6

<The optimum pH range for most plants is between 5.5 and 7.5.> (neutral to slightly acidic)

Terminology

Chinese	Korean	English
者爲上 (3)	좋은 토양/으뜸가는 토양/가장 좋은 땅	highest quality
者次之 (4)	다음으로 좋은 토양/중간/그 다음 가는 땅	next best quality/second best quality
者爲下 (5)	가장 좋지 않은 토양/가장 좋지 않다/좋지 못한 땅	unsuitable/lowest quality
濕田*	습한 밭/습전	wet wasteland/ill-drained paddy field

*濕田

濕田 could refer to 'upo wet land' (우포늪, 牛浦늪),located in Changnyeong-gun County, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, the largest riverine wetland in the Republic of Korea with a well preserved natural environment.

See Upo Wetland.

See also Upo wetland on the UNESCO Heritage List.

See also 논촌진흥청 translation of 고논here.

-in English: easily-irrigatable and fertile paddy field -in Japanese: しつでん(濕田)

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Student 5: 이창섭

원문 대조

• 6번 문장 이후 부터 농사직설 원문에 존재하지 않습니다.

• 원전출처: 『山林經濟』권 1, 「治農」, 耕播條.
• 원문: 濕田, 不宜種穀處, 經霜後, 刈草厚布. 種小麥, 則麥極好, 而翌年變爲乾田, 至種木花亦宜.

상세번역(이창섭 Ver)

• 원문1:○荒地辨試之法.
• 번역1: 미개간지의 좋고 나쁨을 판별하는 법.
• 사용자 주: 윤문 과정에 큰 표현에 차이가 없어 문제가 없습니다.

• 원문2:斸土一尺深, 嘗其味,
• 원운3:甛者爲上,
• 원문4:不甛不醎者次之,
• 원문5:醎者爲下.

• 표점문제: 2번에서 5번 문장은 내용 문맥 상 하나로 처리하는게 나을 것 같습니다. 그리고 맛을 보다 구간에서 '味'에 마침표를 찍었는데, 그런데 내용은 아래에 맛에 관련하여 토양에 품질을 설명하고 있으니 "爲下."까지 한번에 쭉 이어져 표점을 끊는게 좋아 보입니다.

• 예시:斸土一尺深, 嘗其味, 甛者爲上, 不甛不醎者次之, 醎者爲下.

• 해석:토양을 1척깊이로 찍어내어 그 맛을 맛보았을 때, 달면 상품이요, 달지도 않고 짜지도 않으면, 그 아랫 단계이요, 짜면은 하품이다.

논의해야 할 문제

• 현재 올라와 있는 원문을 보니 쉼표로 문자가 이어지는 곳도 한 문장씩 처리했는데, 그러면 한문을 일고 해석할 때 파악하기 어려우며, 번역하기에도 매우 어렵습니다. 차라리 쉼표 부분은 무시하고. 마침표가 이어지는 곳에서, 문장을 분리하는 것이 좋을 듯 합니다. 한글이나 한문에서 제일 내용이 알아보기 쉽게 문장을 처리하는 방식은, 내용 안에 3가지 이상이 존재할 때나, 문장이 두 문장으로 이어져 있을 시, 문장을 분리하여 마침표를 찍는게 좋습니다. 마침표 처리가 되어 있으면, 글을 읽는 독자 측면에서 매우 효과적이라 생각됩니다.

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Tutor 1: 전성호

오주연문장전산고 人事篇○治道類 > 勸農 人事篇○治道類 / 勸農 墾荒開基辨證說 仲長子曰。叢林之下。爲倉庾之坻。魚斃之堀。爲耕稼之場。王禎《農書》引諺云。坐賈行商不如開荒。言其獲利多也。今有山中隱僻之地。祕藏不通。有人得之。必欲墾闢。亦有其法。先辨土脈有橫有豎。豎土泄水。故大宜旱田。橫土瀦水。故便爲稻㽝。此橫土可作水田。豎土利爲旱畝也。更辨土味。劚土深至一尺。嘗其味。甛爲上。淡爲中。鹹爲下。且墾闢有時。春曰燎荒。如平原草萊深者。至春燒荒。地氣通暢。草芽欲發。根荄柔脆。易爲開墾也。夏曰䅖靑。夏月草茂時開。可當草糞。但根鬚壯密。須藉强牛乃可。蓋莫如以春爲上。秋曰芟夷。秋暮草木叢密時。先用鏺刀。遍地芟倒。暴乾放火。至春而開墾省力。大抵開荒地。當年多種芝麻

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Class Comments

Anca

• sweet and salty soil refers to alkaline and acidic soil
• marsh, wetland, land reclamation
• how to convey both cultivatable and wet

ChangSup

• Different sentence in different versions
• Should not be separated in different lines because of the sentence is not finished
• What is the proper length of 척.
  • They made a legal standard of measurement. Five standards, but this whole standards was lost after Imjin War. 주척 is Zhou Dynasty standard, basic standard.
  • So it should be around 20cm.
  • Different measurements for fruit 400g and meat 600g even though it is called the same, also difference between wet and dry
  • Goryeo measurement is the standard of Korea, Joseon adopted it.
• We should note that this was added in a later edition.

Lyndsey

• How to romanize 尺? ja 자 or cheok 척?
• Explanation of 좌도
• How to interpret 剉?

Evelyn

• Should we convey the good/bad meaning in the title as in the Korean translations?
• Again, the issue of measurements
• Again, sweet/sour (not salty) soil, but another explanation of why it would be salty
  • Some crops (like barley, cotton) like salty soil
• Again, issue of wet fields 습전
  • Structure of the sentences are different, in Korean and English
  • "In places such as wet fields where", versus, "wet fields are"
• Should include footnote about 좌도 to clarify for audiences
• Prof Jeon:
  • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) website - will be
  • 세종지역지리지 clarified wet or dry field
  • 황지? cultivatable
• 經霜後
  • Background is interesting but it is hard to make the connection so some explanation may be good
• 습전 can include cultivated and uncultivated land

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Glossary

Type	Hanja	Hangeul	MR	RR	English