Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 377 What to Plant

There are so many large and small stones on the West Mountain. However, after picking up some stones, Hua Lei discovered that the soil underneath is much more fertile and the ground is much moister than that of the other mountains.

In addition, there are endless barren mountains to the west of Xishan, so, relatively speaking, Xishan is a relatively warm and humid environment, and the light is not very strong, but there is a certain amount of scattered light. These conditions are very special, so what to plant and the flower buds are still under consideration.

However, there are still several ponds that have not been dug and the weeds on the mountain have not been cleared. It will probably be the second half of the year when these are completed, so there is still time to consider the buds.

In early June, the ship returning from Mobei to Yuanying Village brought back another full ship of wool. This was the first batch of raw wool from Mobei this year, and there should be several more ships to be shipped back later.

Because of the cooperation among several companies, the wool of several tribes in Mobei is now almost monopolized by Hualei and her friends. This year's wool output is 30% more than in previous years, so Hualei decided to make a batch of wool quilts this year in addition to the original wool sweaters and wool pants, which can then be sold together with goose down quilts in the Flower Fairy Shop.

Wool is very soft and delicate. If it is made into a wool quilt, it has the advantages of not being caked, having good elasticity and being resistant to pulling. It is also moisture-absorbent and breathable, warm in winter and cool in summer, and is very easy to use.

At present, the goose down quilts in the Flower Fairy Shop are always in short supply, especially in winter, when they are often out of stock and cannot be supplied. By then, this wool quilt can be used as a supplement to the goose down quilts, and I believe it will definitely sell well.

The wool shipped back has also completed the rough wool selection process. According to the normal procedures, the wool is washed, degreased, disinfected, coarsely combed, and finely combed. The wool is already very soft and fluffy.

Then I took a non-down quilt core similar to a goose down quilt and carefully and evenly filled the cleaned wool into the quilt core. During the filling process, I paid attention to the uniform distribution of the wool to ensure the warmth retention and comfort of the wool quilt.

After filling, the wool quilt is sorted, including smoothing the surface of the quilt, adjusting the thickness of the wool, etc. After everything is fine, the wool quilt is quilted and shaped.

The finished wool quilt must be ensured to have a neat, flat appearance and uniform thickness. Finally, carefully sew the opening of the quilt core with a hidden stitch technique, and then put on a soft quilt cover before use.

In addition to soft and warm wool quilts, Hualei also made some wool felt, which is sold together with the wool quilts.

First lay out the long wool and fold it up section by section. After folding, the whole piece will be a rectangular piece, put it on the work mat, and use a poking needle to lightly poke it to fix it, and then cover it with the last layer of wool.

First, poke one side until it is half-felt, which means the shape is roughly fixed but still soft. Then switch to the other side and continue to poke until it is half-felt.

Continue to trim the two sides and the edges alternately until the entire shape becomes thinner, smaller, tighter, and completely felted, and the wool felt is completed.

However, making wool felt is too labor-intensive. Without any mechanical equipment, it is almost impossible to use a needle to poke soft and fluffy wool into wool felt that can be used as a blanket, which is even slower than a snail's pace.

So after Hualei made a few beds of wool felt as samples in the beginning, it started to go the customized route. Of course, the price was really, really high.

After Hualei finished making wool quilts and wool felt, she first sent one to Lord Pei and Mrs. Pei, and then to Lord Bai and Gui Jijiu. The rest were put on sale in the Flower Fairy Shop. Of course, Hualei also sold wool quilts at a series of package prices, just like goose down quilts.

As expected, once this wool blanket was launched on the market, it was in short supply, just like the goose down blankets at the beginning. It was very popular. Maids and women from all the noble families came here with horse-drawn carriages to buy it. Buying three was the minimum. Money also flowed in.

Hua Lei saw that making a wool quilt required fewer people and was simpler than making a wool sweater, but the selling price was higher than a wool sweater and the profit was better. So, the four companies decided to increase the production of wool quilts.

Soon, the woolen quilts followed Liang Xiangyi's boat to several cities in the south of the Yangtze River. Hualei's own boat also took the woolen quilts. The woolen quilts quickly occupied the market in Shangjing City and Jiangnan as a latecomer, bringing Hualei a steady stream of silver.

As for the wool felt that takes a lot of time and effort to make, Hualei only offers high-end customized products in Shangjing City. If it wants to sell wool felt in batches, it seems that it is not possible for the time being, as Hualei is really short of manpower.

The production of wool sweaters and wool trousers is still maintained at a slightly higher quantity than last year. From time to time, a batch is squeezed out and sent to Mobei. Some are sent to Pei Jingyang's military camp, and some are sent to the two shops of Pei Laohouye.

Now, in addition to selling his own rice wine, Lord Pei’s two shops in Mobei also sell various derivative products from Hualei Manor. This year, new wool quilts have been added, so the daily turnover can be described as making a fortune.

This year, there are more and more custom orders for wool sweaters in Shangjing City, especially those from wealthy families. They place the most orders. We receive many orders with unique colors and styles every day, but the price of custom orders is also high.

So Hua Lei specially found a group of female relatives and set up a high-end customization team to specialize in completing these custom orders. Although the sweaters were produced one by one, the money was made in handfuls, so Hua Lei was still very happy doing this.

While Hualei was busy with her own farm affairs, she would report to the Ministry of Agriculture every ten days to inspect the growth of corn in the official fields. However, due to the heavy rain in mid-July, the corn fields in the official fields were in trouble again.

If last year's corn planting was smooth sailing, this year's corn planting can be described as full of disasters. After the corn seeds were scalded to death and the corn plants died after being watered at noon, the corn fields in Guantian once again faced the severe test of heavy rain.

The weather in Shangjing City this year was a bit abnormal. In previous years, it was rainy in June and July, but this year it was particularly dry. The corn fields were irrigated with the newly-made windmill, which barely completed all the irrigation.

In previous years, the weather in July and August was relatively dry and hot, but this year it rained continuously, which put the corn in trouble during the heading and flowering period.