The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

After figuring out the biological situation, Zhao Shi'an finally felt relieved. Although the road ahead was difficult, there was still a chance.

After gathering his thoughts, he listened to the lecture and took notes. Although the "Michurin theory" was wrong, it was right for the time being. He still had to take the exam and attend the lecture.

Listening to the teacher's lecture, Zhao Shi'an realized that putting aside prejudices, Michurin had indeed made many contributions. In his lifetime, he cultivated more than 300 kinds of high-quality fruit trees, all of which were extremely cold-resistant.

The Antonovka apple, which made a great contribution to providing fruit for the Soviet people, is officially named the "People's Apple" by the Soviet Union and is the name that appears most frequently in textbooks.

Antonovka apples have extremely strong cold resistance and can survive in harsh environments with temperatures as low as -30 to -40 degrees Celsius. They can overwinter outdoors in the suburbs of Moscow and Siberia without any problems, and a single tree can produce a yield of 150 to 250 kilograms.

In addition, the Huang Taiping and Xia Limeng apples mentioned in the book are also cold-resistant. All three types of apples have been introduced to my country. Huang Taiping, which has the highest yield, was introduced to Harbin as early as 1909. After decades of development, it has spread throughout Northeast China, Eastern Inner Mongolia, Northern Hebei, and Northern Xinjiang, all of which are among the coldest places in China. In this sense, Huang Taiping can be considered a veteran of three dynasties in my country!

It seems that the "Michurin theory" is not entirely without merit. It's just a pity that he wasn't an agricultural student, otherwise he could have more easily distinguished right from wrong!

After having this thought, Zhao Shi'an felt that he was being too greedy. He already had space, and one day's work was equivalent to ten days' work for others. It was only a matter of time before he could verify these theories. Moreover, he knew that agriculture was going astray.

He can now say that he is the only one who is sober in a world of drunks. After all, even Yuan Longping said in his biography that he initially had great faith in Lysenko-Michurin, but changed his mind after conducting experiments for five or six years and discovering problems.

Having seized this early advantage, subsequent knowledge can be gradually accumulated using a large amount of experimental data. In any case, there is enough space and the sample data is small, so it is entirely possible to expand the scale of cultivation.

He has both the time and land most needed for agricultural breeding, and with such favorable timing and location, it's only a matter of time before he achieves results.

Thinking about all this, Zhao Shi'an felt much more at ease.

"If you students are interested, you can do some distant hybridization experiments yourselves, like apples and pears, watermelons and pumpkins... Okay, get out of class dismissed!"

After finishing speaking, Tao Qiuzhen picked up her book and walked out of the classroom.

"Shi'an, do you want to give it a try?"

Upon hearing the teacher's words, Chen Yongfu, who was sitting in the front row, turned around and asked.

"That's right! Shi'an, your family owns land, you could give it a try!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhijie's eyes lit up, and he looked at Zhao Shi'an expectantly. The surrounding classmates also looked over.

"My family doesn't grow apple or pear trees, but we do grow pumpkins, not watermelons!"

"If you want to do experiments, you can go to the old course of the Yongding River. There are many trees there, and you might even find fruit trees. Who knows, maybe one day you'll cultivate some delicious fruit and become an expert?"

Seeing his classmates' reactions, Zhao Shi'an quickly explained that the distant hybridization in the "Michurin theory" sounded quite reasonable. He had actually eaten apple-flavored pears before, and wondered if this was how it was produced. He could try it in his space.

"That's true. There are more jujube, persimmon and pomegranate trees in the yard, fewer apple trees, and even fewer pear trees."

"Watermelons are the same. Pumpkins can be grown, but growing watermelons requires skill. Even if you grow them without knowing how, they won't be sweet!"

"Yes! Even though my family has been farming for over ten years, watermelons are really hard to grow. A few years ago, I tried planting a few, but the melons that grew were all watery and not sweet at all. After that, I only planted small cantaloupes."

Zhao Shi'an agreed with this. Watermelons require more technical expertise, while melons are much easier to care for and are much sweeter once they ripen.

"No wonder watermelons are so expensive!"

"Wow! I never knew there was so much to learn about farming!"

"Understanding the ways of the world is true learning!"

Ding-a-ling! The school bell rang, and everyone returned to their seats.

The last class in the morning was math. After school, Zhao Shi'an followed his classmates out of the school.

As soon as he reached the goldfish pond, he saw his younger sister waiting for him on the earthen slope.

"Big brother!"

Seeing her older brother return, Zhao Xiaoyue waved excitedly.

"Xiaoyue!"

Zhao Shi'an waved to his younger sister.

"Big brother, dinner's ready!"

Zhao Xiaoyue ran all the way to her older brother.

"Okay! Don't stand outside anymore, be careful not to catch a cold!"

Zhao Shi'an held his younger sister's small hand and found it was icy cold.

"Big brother, I'm not cold! Look how big my clothes are!"

As Zhao Xiaoyue spoke, she raised her other hand to demonstrate to her older brother. The old clothes were too big, and the sleeves were more than halfway too long. It took a lot of effort to get her hand out.

"Being big won't help; you'll easily get sick if the wind blows. From now on, just stay home and wait, understand?"

Zhao Shi'an patiently began to persuade him.

"Big brother, I understand. I'll wait for you in the yard from now on."

Zhao Xiaoyue nodded seriously upon hearing this.

"Our little Yue is such a good girl! Come on, let's go home for dinner."

"Time to eat!"

Zhao Xiaoyue cheered and skipped along beside her older brother.

Seeing the little girl's excited expression, Zhao Shi'an asked with a smile:

"Xiaoyue, do you want some melon?"

"Yes! Mom said to plant more small melons this year, so we can eat them when it gets hot!"

Thinking of the sweetness of the melon, Zhao Xiaoyue unconsciously licked her lips.

"If you plant it now, you can eat it in a while! Would you like some?"

Seeing his younger sister's reaction, Zhao Shi'an patiently guided her.

"I want to! Brother, we can't plant it yet, can we?"

Zhao Xiaoyue nodded vigorously, and thinking about the current weather, she asked curiously.

"We can't plant them outside, so we'll plant them indoors!"

"How do you grow it indoors?"

Zhao Xiaoyue was quite bewildered upon hearing this.

"Remember the garlic sprouts we planted on our stove? We planted small gourd seeds in them, and when the house got warm while the stove was cooking, the gourds sprouted. Then we planted them in the ground outside when the weather got warmer."

It will definitely grow faster than other people's melons, and you'll be able to eat them sooner!

Zhao Shi'an patiently explained that the growth cycle of the small melon is short, only two months from planting to maturity. The weather is still cold now, so it can only be planted around the time of Grain Rain.

The spring equinox has only passed a few days ago, and the seasons are almost a month apart. In this era, there are no plastic greenhouses, and off-season vegetables are grown by means of heated walls or near hot springs.

The stove in the house is connected to the kang (a heated brick bed), so the temperature will gradually rise when cooking. It should be fine to use it for early seedling cultivation.

Once the weather warms up, the melons can be transplanted into the ground, allowing them to hit the market at least half a month earlier. This way, the early-harvested melons can definitely fetch a good price, significantly increasing the family's income.

"Wow! Big brother, you're amazing! Let's go home and plant some melons, okay?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiaoyue looked at her older brother with eyes full of admiration!

"Eat first, then we'll plant!"