Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-03-12
Japanese Industry.

big business in cotton and the eggs OF
silkworms. An industry that is even
more in evidence is that of basket-mak-
ing. These, woven of bamboo, are of
all shapes and sizes, are wonderfully
cheap, and are the prettiest things i'm
aginable. As in all other japanese vii
lages we visited, everybody in Kumagai
was hard at work. There was, it is
true, temporary cessation of labor on
the part of a body of men, women, and
children who followed us round, dunn
bly, staring, but generly the people went
on with their work, evidently pleased
with the attention it attracted from the
foreigners. All the implements in use
were of the most primitive description.
A gang of fourteen men were driving
piles preparatory TO building a structure
of heavier cast than the average Jap
anese house. Standing on a scaffold,
the fourteen men hOisted the ram a few
feet, and, letting go their hold, it tell
! with whatever impetus was to be deriv-
ed from the height it dropped. In pre-
cisely the same way we saw gang of
men driving piles for a bridge some fifty
miles inland.
A common object in japanese towns
and villages is the tice-pounder. A man,
or sometimes woman, steps on the
end of long beam, at the other end Of
which stout piece of wood is fixed at
right angles. The weight of the man
raises the beam, and when he steps on
it falls to the scoop filed with rice, by
which treadmill work an appreciable
portion is pounded. The same primi-
tive kind OF tools are in use through all
the earlier processes of rice growing.
The rice harvest was in full swing as
we drove along, and, Sunday though it
was, there was no cessation of labor,
whether in field or homestead. In a
journey of nearly $50 miles Though this
portion of the interior | did not see a
single plow. In the course of a subSe-
quent journey through the southern
portion of the island saw two miserable
little things which man could easily
lift, drawn by an under-sized OK.
In almost universal use is the earliest
idea of a plow. 1t is spade, with a
narrow blade about three feet long. The
farmer thrusts this well into the soil,
and, turning it over on one side, makes
a furrow, the action and the result
being indentical with that of plow.
Only, watching the laborious process,
one thinks of the enormous strides ag-
ricultuIe will take in Japan when these
rude instruments are cast aside, ard the
plow is put to work. When the lice is
cut ard dried it is stripped by the simple
process Of drawing the heads through a
small comb, which does handful at a
time. 1t Is thrashed by fail precisely
of the same make as that in use III the
thrashing floor of Nachon the time Uz-
Zah put forth his hand to steady the ark
of God that David was bringing up from
kiTiath Jearim. When the rice is strip
ped it is laid out to dry on mats spread
in the sun. Ii passing through vii
lage these mats covered with lice are
frequently to be seen thanking the full
length of the road on both sides.
Porcelain and earthenware are man
ufactured in every province of japan.
Its enamelers on copper have no rivals
in the world. 1t has workers in bronze,
carvers of ivory, and is the home OF
lacquer. But it is essentially an agri-
cultural country, living by the fruit of
its land. According to the last census,
taken III 1880, the total population was
$4,000, 900, and of these nearly 16,000,-
600 were farmers in almost equal pro-
portion of sexes. Uuder the present
Urder of things, dating from tie revolu-
tiOn of 1868, the people own the land,
paying the tax for it to the government.
About three-tenths of the titled land of
Japan is in the hands of small proprie-
tors, who, with their wives and child
ren, do all the farm work. OF the bal
ance, though. held in large sections,
there isnothing akin to the larger farms
OF England.
in addition to the population return
ed as farmers, there is a considerable
proportion of farm laborers. An able
bodied farm hand receives wages at
about the rate of tenpence a day, with
board. AS he is almost vegetarian,
his food does not cost much, consisting
chiefly of rice, barley, peas, beans, and
turnips, with occasional rellshes in the
shape of eggs and salt fish. Rice is the
principal product of the empire, being
grown in all its provinces. Tea, six
and cotton come next, and, In addition.
there are grown tobacco, wheat, barley
millet, peas and beans. OF late years.
much attention has been given to the
culture of grapes, and the japanese are
not without hope that within the next |
ten yeaIs they may introduce and popu-
larize in Europe a new vintage.