Huntsville gazette., 1882-12-30
Climatic Conditions in Japan.

The climate of Japan is altogether
different from what it is usually sup
posed to be by those who Judge what it
must be by associating it with that of
Southern Asia, which is intensely hot.
Japan in no part of it is as warm as
some sections of California. From the
first of November to the last of May
wooden clothing is worn by all Euro
peans. The winter months bring ice in
abundance and snow storms of maoni-
tude, and there blows quite often
| piercing, cold wind that will equal a
New England northwester. In the sum-
mer the weather is comfortably warm,
the thermometer ranging from IS to 80
degrees, August and September being
the hottest months. The seasons are
not as marked either for intense heat or
cold as in the United States. The soft
ening influences of southern seas tell
upon the harshness of winter, and the
cooling process in summer is provided
for in the ocean breeZes and the con-
slant evaporation going on, both on the
land and on the innumerable bays and
inlets indenting the coast. There is
such an amount of moisture in the
atmosphere during the summer that it
causes mold to form on everything that
is susceptible to it. The sun shines with
great fervor, and were it not for the
constant supply of moisture from evapo-
ration the days would be intensely hot.
Japan is an exceedingly healthy coun-
try, per Sc. Although cholera is cpl
demic here, those who live in manner
at all consonant with the well-known
rules of hygienic law are as safe from
its attacks as if it were never known.
Yokohama four years ago was visited
with this scourge. The natives died in
| large numbers, while the foreign popu-
lation, owing to the different conditions
under which they lived, escaped scot
free. 1t has been so generally at all the
open ports. While the Japanese have
suffered terribly the foreigners have
been unscathed. So in Yokohama,
where the cholera is pretty firmly estab-
lished, the native population is suffering
greatly and the foreigners are living in
perfect security. Every month witnesses
a fall of rain, there being more in the
month of June, as general thing, than
in any other. Copious rains are ex-
pected in June, in the interests of the
rice crops, as it is then that the growing
rice is transplanted from the sprouting-
beds to the fields where it is to mature.
Owing to the occasional showers during
the summer every kind of vegetation re-
tains its freshness.
From early spring until the return of
winter the eye is delighted with the as
pvoo Of Uiro oouHtty- No brown hill
sides, parched and dry, bare of verdure
are to be seen; but everywhere the
intense depth of emerald that is the
popularity of the rapid growth of every
thing in the great vegetable world in
Japan, delights the senses. Such varied
tints of green as are here shown in the
many species of forest trees and the
infinite variety of plant life are unknown
to the most favored portions of the
United States. Every species is prodi-
gal in luxuriance. There is no leanness
in the vegetation, but shining, glisten-
ing, wax like fatness, that tells of richness
Of soil and of wealth of sunlight and
heat, with no scarcity of moisture.
Japan is paradise to plant life, all
conditions being favorable for its de-
gelopment, and probably no country
possesses more expert gardeners than
are the Japanese. Fogs are very un-
common, at least in this portion of the
Empire. The country is abundantly
watered, streams running both in natural
channels and constructed ways. Springs
flow everywhere, and on the hills as
well as in the valleys water is abun-
dant. 1t is used for irrigating purposes
to the utmost extent The area devoted
to rice is the larger part of the cultivata-
BILE land, and requires great supply of
water to answer the necessities of the
crop.
Although so abundant, water is not
allowed to run to waste. In many places
it is stored in natural reservoirs in the
hills, where dams have been erected for
that purpose; and there can be seen
the effects of debris in the beds of
streams, filing them up, as they have
been leveed on both sides, until they
are running in an elevated bed very many
feet above the valleys through which
they formerly flowed. If the patient
methods of the japanese could be en-
grated upon the science of the Califor-
MIA farmer the problem of irrigating
the arid plains of the State would be
SOlN6u. uc SOii - SoueIUuS III us re-
turns to the husbandman, but it receives
constant tillage, and is renovated by all
methods available to the farmer AS
the earth is all turned with q hoe longer
and cutting deeper than the spade, it is
mellow beyond the conception of a SUBJ
soil plower in the United States. Every
foot of soil that is cultivated here is as
assiduously worked as the most highly
cultivated garden spot in the world. 1t
is a source of wonder to look upon the
fields and watch the patient work which
their tiDage demands.-Yokohanaa, Cor.
San Francisco Chronicle.
Judge Deadly, presiding over the
United States District Court in Oregon,