The daily gazette., 1875-11-20
FARM WORK IN JAPAN.

| garden. NO ploughs are used; the
ground is dug up with a spade like i'm.
piement attached to a handle, the
same as hoe. All agricultural imple-
mentt are of the rudest and most awk-
wark construction, The sickle is
usci for harvesting. Flails are en-
ployed Tor threshing and bellows for
wlnnowing. Straw is carefully saved
and utilized. All the products from
| the field, as well as those prepared for
| market, are carried on the backs or
| shoulders of coolies. Transported to
considerable distance, horses and cows
are packed with the farmers produc.
| to be conveyed to market There are
no meadows here such as we see in
our country; the grass for hay is gath
cred from hooks and corners and side
hills and mountains, why're land is un-
vaiiable for cultivation, and the sup.
| ply is thus secured without encroach.
| ing upon arabic soil. And stock is
subsisted in feeding out of the way
| places, the horses and cattle, of which
there are comparatively few, being
watched and gurrdcd by women and
children. Japanse cattle are small and
Of black color, with a protuberance in
| the centre of the back, something like
the buffalo. They make very good
| beef. The cows are never milked;
Japanese do not use milk or butter
Some stock was imported to the coun-
try from America, and so cows have
been supplied to furnish milk for a
few of the larger towns; all lhe butter
used is imported. There are no sheen;
it is said they cannot live there. This
may be true of the valley region, with
its moist and almost swamp soil, but
it is believed they would do well
enough on the highlands. The gov
ernment has contracted with an Amer
ican experienced in sheep husbandry,
TO import large number and make
| full trial, with view of stocking the
country with sheep. He has no doubt
the enterprise will prove successful,
and If so Japan will be able in the
course OF few years to furnish a sup
! ply of wool, and ultimately of wooden
| goods sufficient for home consumption.
Now shese are all imported, and the
| mutton used, which is of superior
quality, is brought from Shanghai
japanese horses are tough little beasts,
naturally wild and vicious. The peo-
pie of the country use them only for
transporting burdens, packing them
down with very heavy loads. They
do not ride or drive them the coolies
always leading them.
Foreigners in some Of the larger
towns are using them with saddle ana
carriage, but they arc treaeherous
animals and but few seem to be vel
| broken. a betto always accompanies
| a turnout to clear the way and as a
| nraront;op otraiDSt acCil,pt - g.,
! uish relief to the inmates of carriage
or the rider in saddle in case the horse
or horses become unmanageable. The
betto, with his graceful, loping gait,
| will travel quite as fast and as long
without stopping, as one cares TO ride
or drive. But to return from this di-
gression Ten acres is considered quite
n large farm. Two and three crops a
yeal are produced; cotton, millet aRd
barley are next in aggregate quantities
produced; wheat, buckwheat, latterly
some Indian corn, Irish and sweet po-
tatoes, are also produced for ample
supply of home demand. Farmers are
an honored class IN social status, and
! in former caste classifications they
occupied q position next to official
dignitarics. They lease their lands
from the government, in which the
ownership of all the soil is vested.
Farms are not fenced off; there are 40
fences. Occupancy is marked with
| bitches. Coolies do the farm work,
receiving eight and ten cents a day,
| which covers twelve to fourteen hours
of laborious service. The farmer does
not work; he is above what is regarded
as menial service. An overseer, who
| receives little more pay than the coolie,
directs operations under the farmers
supervision. The fruits OF the country
embrace pears, peaches, persimmous,
cherries, plans, lemons, oranges, pome-
granates, grapes and figs. They are
not, however, of the best flavor and
quality. There are no apples. The
woods embrace n considerable variety,
some of the superior quality for fine
finish. \ large proportion is soft
wood; the pine is not equal to ours
There is very hard wood resembling
our oak. There is no end to the bam
| boo, and ii is used more extensively
than any other wood, both for objects
of utility and ornamentation. Even
clothing for Summer wear-and very
| comfortable it isis manufactured
| from the fine fibre of the bamboo.
AS in California, the flowers of the
tropics as we'll as the semi.tropicai re-
gions and temperate zone flourish here
in great profusion, and the air in the
vicinity Of the beautiful gardens is Ia
den with their sweet odors-a sort OF
antidote for the villainous smells that
prevail in many places both in town
and country from the uses of fertiliz-
ing material of kind that we do not
attempt to utilize, and which enriches
the earth at the expense of a sweet
atmosphere. The training of trees and
shrubbery for ornamentation is cur
ious feature of Japanese gardening.
They are made to grow in the most
grotesque shapes, representing animals
of all sorts, dragons, serpents and idols
being favorite forms of this sort OF
culture.