Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-11-28

lOOu from Otner countries, but to also import
large quantities of fertilizers to aid in raising
its crops. Japan on the contrary, imports
neither grain nor manures, but exports con-
siderable quantities of food. This is the
present condition of japanese agriculture.
taken as a whole. Its details are not such
as could be carried out among our people,
as they bend, the whole energies of a large
majority of the population to producing the
greatest possible amount from small erea
of soil. The whole arabic land of the coun-
try is divided up into plots of from two to
five acres each, and their agriculture would
be considered by rs very close system of
gardening. The land is kept constantly up
to its greatest productiveness, and this is
done by system Of manuring and cultiva-
tion which may offer some suggestions to
our own farmers. In the first place. the
japanese follow deep tillage, the arabic soil
being several feet in thickness. What is a
wheat patch at one month is converted in
part into a rice-swamp the next. One part
of the field being eXcavated, and the earth
thrown upon the other to make an elevated
island for the growth of sweet potatoes and
other crops, while the lower portion is flood
ed with water for the rice crop. M In this
way the whole soil is frequently turned over
to the depth of two or two and half feet
Another popularity Is, that the crops, of
whatever character, are always grown in
drills; sown in this way they can receive the
highest possible culture and special manur-
ing. Each crop is grown with no referance
to that which will succeed it. The system
OF rotation and fallows is unknown, but the
land is looked upon as nank which will
honor any drafts made upon it if the drawer
has made a sufficient deposit-of manure
hn If
the breadth of land which the japanese
farmer will SOW. The popularity of Japan
csc husbandry is that no animals are kept
Human eXcrement forms the principal ma
nurc. The japanese farmer docs not allow
the crop to be eaten by cattle and then
return to the soil the manure from them,
but he eats the crop himself with the help
OF his family, and returns the manure direct
iy to the soil. The religion of the people
prevents their eating any animal food except
fish; and they eat the mollusca or shell
fish, in great quantities, and the manure
from them is the only fcrtilizing material
returned to the land that does not come off
of it. On the farm human cxcrement is re-
turned to the land from which the food
came, and the cities regularly return to the
country loads of human manure in exchange
for the food which they receive. Through
out the country the greatest care is exercised
in preserving the night soil. The cabinet or
priyy is an essential part of the houses of
the poorest as well us Of the wealthy. A
bucket or earthen vessel is placed where it
will receive the deposit, and is provided
with projecting ears into which q pole can
be inserted for the purpose of carrying the
vessel. At the towns and cities thousands
OF boats may be seen early each morning
laden with high heaps of bucketsfu of the
precious stuff, which they carry from the
canals i'll the cities to the country. These
boats come and go with the regularity of
the post; it must be admitted, however,
that it is a species of martyrdom to be the
conductor of n mail-boat of this kind. In
the evening long strings of coolies are met
with on the road, who, having in the morn
ing carried the produce of the country to
the town, are returning home, each with two
buckets of manure, not in a solid OF concen-
trated form, but fresh from the privies.
Caravans of pack-horseS, which often have
brought manufactured articles silks, oil,
lacquered goods, etc. distance of two
hundred to three hundred miles from the
interior to the capital, are sent home again
frcighted with baskets or buckets of manure;
in such cases, however, care is taken to select
solid eXcrcments." For the way in which
the manure is treated we can not do better
than to quote the language of this interest
ing report:
"The excrements are diluted with water,
no other addition of any kind being made
to them, and stirred until the entire mass is
worked into most intimately intcrmiXed
fine pap. In rainy. weather the vessel is
covered with movable roof to shield it
from the rain in dry weather this is reno
ved, to allow the action of the sun and wind.
The solid ingredients of the pap gradually
subside, and fermentation sets in the water
evaporates. By this time the vessel in the
privy is again ready for emptying. a fresh
quantity of water is added, the whole mass
is again stirred and most intimately mixed
together, in short, treated exactly like the
first emptying. The same process is repeat
ed until the cask or pan is full. After the
last supply of excrements, and thorough
mixing, the mass is left, according to the
state of the weather, for two or three weeks
longer, or until it is required for use but
under no circumstance is the manure ever
emrdoyed in the fresh state. This entire
course of proceeding clearly shows that the
Japanese are no paItisans of the nitrogen
theory, and that they only care for the solid
parts of the dung. They leave the ammonia
exposed TO decomposition by the action of
the sun, and its volatilization by the wind,
but take the greatest care to shield the solid
ingredients from being wasted or swept
away by rain, sc. As the peasant, however,
paws his rent to his landlord, not in cash,
but in certain stipulated Percentage of the
produce of his fields, he argues quite lOgi-
cally that the supply of manure from his
! privv must necessarily be insufficient to
prevent the gradual exhaustion of the soil
of his farm, Notwithstanding the marvellous
richness of the latter, and in spite of the
additional supply of manuring matter deri-
we'd from the water Of the brook or canal
from which he takes his material for irriga.
tion. lie places, therefore, wherever his
field is bordered by the public roads, foot
/ paths, &c, casks or pots buried in the
ground nearly to the rim, urgently request
ing the travelling public to make use of the
same. To show how universally the ecouo-
mical value of manure is felt and appreciated
| in all classes of society in Japan, from the
| highest to the lowest, | need simply state
4 the fact that, in all my wanderings through
the country, even in the most remote valleys,
/ and in the homesteads and cottages of the
very poorest of the peasan,ry, | never could
\ discover. even In the most secret aud seclu-
/ ded corners, the least trace Of human eNere-
D IA tN l.ar-