After Li Xiangqian passed the news to Li Long, Li Long left the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and drove his Jeep straight to the Fourth Team.
In the Li Family Courtyard, Li Qingxia was sorting out a fishing net, while Du Chunfang was tending the vegetable plot. Both were delighted to see Li Long.
"Did my eldest brother and sister-in-law go out to the fields?" Li Long asked as he got out of the Jeep.
"Yes, they went to thin the seedlings in that field above Big Haizi."
Seeing that Li Long was in a hurry, Du Chunfang pointed north. "Can your car get over there?"
"Yes. The road's all right in dry weather." Without explaining what was going on, Li Long greeted Dad and Mom, then hurried back into the car, started it, reversed, and drove off toward the fields.
He found his eldest brother, Li Jianguo, at the edge of the field.
The winter wheat was growing well this year. The Li brothers' plots here had been allotted next to each other, with wheat planted in one and flower sunflowers in the other. The sunflower seedlings had already broken through the soil, and Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei were thinning them.
Farmers sowed more seeds than they needed. For example, a mu of land might hold six thousand plants, but they might sow ten to twenty thousand seeds, mainly for fear that the seeds would be unsuitable, the soil would have problems, or the weather would cause uneven germination. They almost always sowed more than the normal amount.
Usually, however, unless there was a serious disaster, getting over eighty percent of the seeds to sprout was no problem. This often meant there were too many seedlings, but of course, too many was better than too few.
Once the