Chapter 723: An experimental base? I

Professor Luo, named Luo Mingliang, was a graduate of the Agricultural Mechanization College, specializing in agronomy and professional agricultural planting research.

Later, when he went to the Northern Frontier, he spent those ten years working at the grassroots level, euphemistically called "re-education."

Because of this, Professor Luo was quite dedicated to the study of soil in the Northern Frontier.

So, when he didn't have classes, Professor Luo would be busy in his small experimental field, and he also spent a lot of time there while leading his students.

For people in agronomy, this was very normal.

"I heard from Professor Wu that you have a piece of saline-alkali land you want to reclaim? How big is that plot?"

"About twenty-plus mu. It was originally thirty mu, but I converted five mu of it into a shed and pen, and after removing some corners, the remaining plowed land is about twenty mu."

Li Long answered earnestly:

"Before I came here, that land had already been flood-irrigated, and alkali-drainage ditches were dug on the sides to remove the alkali, but the salinization in our area is quite severe, so it's very difficult to remove the alkali just by watering and draining."

"I came here to seek advice firstly to see if there are any economic crops that are relatively salt-alkali tolerant, and secondly, I wanted to see if soil testing and fertilization could be implemented on a small plot of land."

Li Long spoke in quite some detail, and Professor Luo pondered for a moment before saying:

"Judging from the current planting environment in the Northern Frontier, the salt-alkali tolerant economic crop is cotton. However, there is a big problem in the cotton planting process: its seeds can germinate in a saline-alkali environment, but after the spring rains, the top layer of soil in saline-alkali land forms a crust, which presses down on the seedlings."

"To make the cotton grow, you have to clear the seedlings, and in the process of clearing, it's very easy to hurt them. If the bud at the top of the seedling breaks, the seedling is ruined."

Li Long nodded; he naturally knew this. Currently, the price of cotton wasn't high, and picking cotton was troublesome. Although it could grow in saline-alkali land, the economic results were still uncertain.

So, he hadn't thought about planting cotton in the short term.

Professor Luo continued:

"Another crop in our Northern Frontier that is salt-alkali tolerant is the sugar beet. There are quite a lot of people planting this, after all, we have several sugar refineries. This white sugar is not only for our own use but also exported to the Soviet Union in the west, so the planting area for sugar beets has been quite large all these years."

Li Long was also thinking about this; the large planting area for sugar beets led to a shortage of sugar beet seeds, which was a good track.

Why call it a track?

Li Long asked himself in his mind, then continued to listen to Professor Luo.

"If you put it that way, then we can plant some sugar beets over there later." Li Long thought and said, "And then producing sugar beet seeds next year should also be pretty good."

"Hmm, that's the logic. With many people planting sugar beets, sugar beet seeds are relatively scarce. No wonder Professor Wu said your thinking is much broader than that of ordinary farmers; this way of thinking is something ordinary farmers wouldn't come up with." Professor Luo exclaimed in admiration.

"Comrade Li, do you have a place to stay over there? A place suitable for five or six people to live, for a long term, maybe at least a month or two?" Professor Luo suddenly asked, "The conditions don't need to be too good, but at least there should be independent rooms..."

"Yes, we do." Li Long said, "Right next to my saline-alkali land is the old horse stable, which I bought to raise wild boars and red deer. The several offices inside are currently available for people to live in."

Of course, if people needed to stay, he would have to ask Uncle Lao Luo to move those sun-dried sugar beet dregs out of the room. However, that stuff wouldn't be a problem if left outside after being dried, and it wouldn't be an issue to set up a shed to store it.

"That's great." Professor Luo said with a smile, "Your suggestion can be turned into a research project."

"I plan to take a few students to your place next spring, and study this soil testing and fertilization matter from the very beginning."

"If you can help me find a place to stay, I believe that within a period of time, we will be able to help you solve the salt-alkali problem of your land!"

Hey, this is really great!

"You don't need to thank me, we are getting what we need from each other. If we do a good job with the research project, the school will have funding. If it succeeds in the end and we have valuable experimental data, we can also publish papers, so don't worry, we will also go all out to study it when the time comes."

This matter was determined between the two of them just like that.

Of course, whether the matter can succeed in the end still depends on the situation after Professor Luo applies to the college. After all, as a professor of the college, he can't just go wherever he wants without reporting.

But since he said so, it's highly likely to succeed.

Professor Luo and Li Long discussed going over as soon as the snow melts next spring. Because there is at least half a month between the snow melting and the planting time.

Li Long vaguely remembered that soil testing and fertilization required digging at several points in the same plot of land to a depth of about fifty centimeters to take soil samples. Of course, it was layered soil sampling, and at the same time, it had to be combined with the crops being planted to determine the type of fertilization.

After all, not all crops are suitable for growing under conditions where the acidity and alkalinity are neutralized.

Professor Luo was still very concerned about the idea of soil testing and fertilization proposed by Li Long, and kept Li Long chatting for a while longer, mainly discussing the issue of scientific farming with Li Long.

Yes, in Professor Luo's view, Li Long being able to propose this point of view already qualified him to discuss agronomy issues with him.

And Li Long also brought up some mature agricultural knowledge from later generations in advance, such as drip irrigation for water saving, mechanized planting, plastic film for cotton, etc.

It made Professor Luo feel that this person really had profound research in agriculture.

That shouldn't be!

After all, Li Long is only in his twenties or thirties, how could he think of so many directions worth researching?

And listening to it, it felt like they could all be realized in the next few years.

In the eighties, science fiction novels, Qigong, and the like began to prevail. Professor Luo was also thinking privately, could this Li Long be someone who came back from the future? Or did he obtain some brainwave information from alien technology?

People nowadays cannot understand how fanatical the Chinese people were about science fiction, Qigong, and special abilities from the eighties to the end of the nineties.

Many great scientists and big figures had research in this area. As for whether there were any results, that's another matter, but at least in terms of research and promotion, it was really very popular at that time.

Li Long didn't know Professor Luo's thoughts. He chatted for a while, and seeing that it was quite late, he said goodbye and left.

Professor Luo was still a bit reluctant, but he also knew that Li Long couldn't stay and have a long talk with him, so let's wait until next year.

After all, he himself had some research on hand that needed to be finished before the end of the year. Only after finishing the work on hand could he be ready to prepare instruments and take students to conduct new project research next year.

At the end of October, the days were no longer long. Li Long chatted at the Agricultural College for two hours, and when he came out, the sun was already slanting to the west.

Originally, he should have driven directly west, out of the city to go home, but Li Long, as if by a stroke of fate, circled around the Bayi Guest House, from where he could also turn onto the road out of the city.

When he reached the road north of the WLMQ South Station, through a departing bus, Li Long saw that the place where Yusufu used to set up his stall still had some people setting up there.

The jeep moved forward slowly, and he spotted Yusufu setting up a stall selling raisins in the corner at a glance.

He really ran into this guy!

Li Long drove the jeep around to the side of his stall and stopped. Yusufu was startled, grabbed the four corners of the blanket piled with raisins, and was about to lift it and run.

"Yusufu, Adaxi, don't panic, don't panic, it's me!"

Li Long hurriedly got out of the car and shouted.

When the jeep stopped, not only Yusufu but also several other small vendors nearby had a tendency to pack up and flee.

Apparently, setting up stalls was not allowed in this area. Seeing that it was Li Long who appeared, a look of surprise appeared on Yusufu's face, and that look was truly complicated.

He never expected that Li Long could drive a small car and recognize him.

The vendors nearby were also a bit surprised. It seems this Yusufu, who doesn't talk much, knows a big shot. But with such a relationship, why would he be setting up a stall here?

Li Long came over and shook hands with Yusufu, and sat down with him to chat.

"Didn't you go south to sell raisins? Why did you come back?"

"Sigh, it's hard to say. When I went over there, I did make money, and then I listened to others and brought a batch of goods here to sell, thinking I could make more money, but halfway... I was intercepted and robbed..."

Yusufu sighed, his eyes complicated.

"Then you aren't going south anymore?" Li Long asked, "The opportunities over there are definitely more than here."

"That's exactly it." Yusufu was hooked into chatting by Li Long and said, "Raisins, red dates, they all like them very much. If you pull them over to sell, you can make twice the price compared to here."

"It's just that it's hard to pull them over there. There are also many good things over there. Me, I was just too greedy. If I had bought one sack and transported it back directly on the train, it definitely would have been fine... Sigh, people's hearts, they are like the deep pits in our hometown, bottomless."

"Then what do you plan to do later?" Li Long asked again, "Sell jade or raisins?"

Seeing Li Long ask, Yusufu looked left and right, took out a bundle of cloth from the cloth pocket behind him, and then unwrapped the cloth layer by layer, revealing a piece of jade inside that looked like sheep-tail fat.

!

Li Long was happy; this guy still had hidden stock.

"Since you have this good stuff, why don't you go sell it to the jade factory? This thing looks so beautiful and is so heavy, you could at least sell it for several hundred or even a thousand yuan, right?"

This piece of jade was egg-shaped, slightly flat, a seed material, looking a bit like the pressing stone for pickles that Liang Yuemei used. It weighed about four or five kilograms. Without touching it, just by looking, one knew it was a piece of top-quality mutton-fat jade.

"Sigh, the people I knew before have all left, or retired." Yusufu shook his head, "I took it over to try, and they offered me at most four hundred yuan. They said there is plenty of good material now, and they don't lack material. The price is just like this now."

Li Long was a bit suspicious. Is it really like this?

But thinking about the material bought from Liu Gong today, four pieces added up to only three hundred yuan, and that was still counting the carving work. The weight of those four pieces added up was slightly lighter than this one.

Looking at it this way, it really might be like this.

Liu Gong said the price of material had risen, but according to the price when he and Yusufu went to sell jade material before, it was indeed not comparable to now.

It is said that at this time, those pigeon-egg-sized seed materials he bought from Yusufu were not accepted by those big factories.

It's truly an affluent era.

Li Long then asked Yusufu:

"Do you plan to sell this piece of material?"

"Sell it, yes." Yusufu pushed the jade material toward Li Long and said, "This is the best piece of material I've kept over the years, it's just that the shape isn't very good, and it's not easy to carve things. If you like it, make an offer. We are friends, Adaxi, I believe you won't let me suffer a loss..."

Well, after a trip to the south, this Yusufu knows how to use moral kidnapping on him.

But to be honest, this material is really better than the four pieces Liu Gong gave him. It feels particularly moist, and Li Long also likes it quite a bit. He picked up this piece of jade, turned it over and over to look at it, and after looking, said:

"In that case, I'll double it for you. Six hundred for this piece of jade, what do you think?"

If you really judge by the current price, six hundred is slightly high.

But Li Long felt that Yusufu's line was pretty good, being able to get first-hand Hetian seed material, so let's pay a bit more.

Yusufu nodded vigorously. He had looked for others, and the current market situation was just like this. The highest offer didn't exceed five hundred, and Li Long giving six hundred was already the highest.

Li Long took the shoulder bag off the jeep, took out stacks of money, counted out six hundred, and handed it to Yusufu.

After Yusufu earnestly finished counting the money, he took out several small jade materials wrapped in newspaper from his cloth pocket and handed them to Li Long:

"These aren't worth much, take them as a bonus."

According to the current calculation, they are indeed not worth much. The largest is only the size of a chicken egg, and the small ones are about the size of a pigeon egg. There are seven of them.

Li Long didn't mind either. After looking at them one by one, he wrapped them up in newspaper and put them into the jeep together with the large piece of jade material.

"You are still the capable one, you even drive a small car." Yusufu also knew that in this day and age, it's not like you can drive a jeep just because you have money. He sighed, "Thank you!"

Li Long and Yusufu chatted for a few more sentences, and then he saw the vendors in the east starting to run. It turned out that the real management personnel had come. Yusufu hurriedly said a word to Li Long, scooped up his raisins, shouldered his cloth pocket, and ran away.

Li Long originally wanted to buy all his raisins, but before he could open his mouth, this guy ran away.

If he ran, let him run. We will see each other again if there is a chance in the future.

Taking advantage of the fact that the management personnel hadn't come over yet, Li Long got on the jeep and drove back.

By the time he returned to Maxian, it was already dark. Li Long drove the car directly back to the big courtyard.

The lights were on in the courtyard, and the lights were also on in the room. When the jeep drove to the entrance, someone rushed out of the room and then ran quickly to the big gate to open it.

After the gate opened, Li Long saw that the person standing at the gate was Han Fang.

He smiled, drove the jeep into the courtyard, parked it, turned off the engine, and got out of the car.

"Uncle, have you eaten? If not, shall I heat up some food for you?" Han Fang asked.

"Not yet, heat it up for me." Li Long was indeed hungry.

Yang Da Jie and Gu Xiaoxia appeared at the entrance. Li Long greeted them and then went to wash his hands.

Tossing and turning all day, he was also quite tired.

But the harvest was not small.

The next day, Li Long originally planned to rest, but in the morning, Chen Hongjun came to find him.

"I have two friends coming over. If you have nothing to do at noon, let's sit together, and I'll introduce you."

Li Long's mood was slightly heavy. This Chen Hongjun is leaving next year. It seems this time he is introducing those who collect medicinal materials and other things to him.

If he leaves, will he have to rely on these merchants later?

The bulk of Li Long's money comes from fritillaria. Can he maintain such a high income next year?

A very confused feeling.

Let's go and see. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 724 =====