River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-07-27

complete without this vegetable. The
entire country is mountainous and we'll
supplied with streams, which are used
very successfully for irrigating pur-
poses and for flooding their rice fields.
The plow is scarcely known in many
parts Of the empire, and, when used, it
consists of a very primitive instrument,
which does not turn a furrow, but SIM
| ply scratches the surface of the soil.
The earth is generally broken by and,
and the instrument most in use is a
long hoe, which the workman forces
into the soil with skillful blow and
then pulls over the earth. They are
wiser than we in that they never
plant crop without fertilizing the soil;
hence, while their land is not naturally
very rich, it constantly increases in
fertility. They have no exact chemi-
cal knowledge of the soils, still they
seem to understand the great essential
principles of successful husbandry-
namely, to restore fully the wasted
energies of the soil, and bestow care
full, unremitting cultivation ON the
plants. They suffer nothing to be
wasted which can possibly increase the
producing power of their fields. These
leaves of autumn are carefully gather
ed and placed in tanks to rot. All the
refuge of their crops is also utilized,
and, where it is possible, seaweed is
gathered for the same purpose. Along
all the highways are tanks at frequent
intervals, placed on level with the
ground, and the reverse of the COM
mon notice commit no nuisance
here" is posted up near at hand. The
farmers near large towns and cities
may be seen in scores at almost any
hour carrying wooden buckets filled
with night-sol, which they are bearing
away TO their gardens to be used as
fertilizer
In travelling through the country one
sees no pasture fields nor green mead
| ows, smells no clover nor the scent of
new-mown hay; these are quite un-
thought of by the farmers. They
have no need for them, for the few
horses owned by the people subsist on
the wild grass growing along the edges
of their rice fields or the steep hillsides;
also on miIlet and beans. Sorry speci-
mems they are of that noble animal.
The men and women do most of the
work. The horse is seldom used for
any other purpose than to carry few
| bundles on his back. He is then led
with a rope, and shod with straw shoes,
which will last only a short distance,
and then must be renewed. | have
journeyed hundreds of miles into the
country without seeing COW, and /
believe | never saw pig while in the
country. There are no fruit orchards,
although many or all the kinds peculi-
| ar to the temperate zones can be grown.
This is not the season for any fruit ex-
cept Strawberries, but am told by in
telligcnt American residents that all
their fruits lack flavor and are COM
paratively worthless, excepting the
persimmon, and of this they speak in
terms of highest praise.
The diet of the farmers / believe to
be the most simple of any other people
possessing an equal civilization. 1t
consists entirely of vegetables, eggs,
and fish, but in vast majority of cases
never OF any meat. Strange to say,
milk and butter as articles of food are
unknown, and no part of my outfit
called forth more EXPLANATIONS of sur
prise than tin of butter which | used
at every meal in the houses where l
rested. They have no idea of milking
COW, and are convulsed with laughter
at the suggestion. l have seen no
other nation where this ignorant preju-
dice prevails. 1t would seem that ore
reason why they are so weak physical
ly is the lack of nourishing muscle
producing diet.
Excepting some of the half-starved
East Indians they are the weakest peo-
pie have ever seen. Their average
height is only five feet two inches, with
narrow chests and small muscular de-
velopment. Their sake~drinking and
universal RIGHTEOUSNESS. ] believe, has
set the seal of extinction on them as Il
nation, unless western customs and
Christian civilization are permitted to
pour new life into the failing fountain.
The farmers houses are all exceed
lngiy simple and very inexpensive. but
cleanly; also very similar in size, con-
struction and furnishing. There seems
to be more of that bitter and injurious
rivalry in dress and house-building
which prevails with us. They are very
polite and hospitable to strangers-the
commonest rustic has u suavity and
self-control about him and an ability to
bow that many of our best bred men
might envy. There is an utter absence
of awkwardness or boorishness among
them. There are no barns, and one
looks in vain to see pigs buried in the
clean straw, or the meek sheep in
groups, or cattle burrowing IN great
straw-stacks. No patient oxen are
seen, with soft brown eyes and sinewy
necks, unconscious Of their strength.
Nor does the traveller ever hear the
music of the tactical torrent in the milk
maids pail. Their quiet, contented,
painstaking industry is worthy of our
imitation. The almost universal alb
sence of poverty, and the manifest
friendship and equality among them is
pleasant to contemplate.
But the man who has seen vast fields
of waving grain, and trees laden with
fruit, who has heard the click of a
reaper and the whirr of thrashing ma
chine, who has lived in the average
American farm house, would not be
| content with half-acre wheat field, to
do his blowing with hoe, pound out
his grain with bamboo fail, and sit
on his heels and eat boiled rice and
picked radish with chop-sticks, and
carry the fruitage of his toll to market
in bamboo basket or on q pack-horse
shod with straw shoes.