Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-04-17
Japanese Industry.

Kumagai is busy little place doing
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
villages we visited, everybody in Ku-
magai was hard at work. There was,
it is true, temporary cessation of la
Dor on the part of body Of men. wo-
men and children who followed US
round dumbly staring. but generally
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 four
teen men were driving piles prepara-
tory to building a structure of heavier
cast than the average Japanese house.
Standing on a scaffold the fourteen
men hoisted the ram few feet, and,
letting go their hold, it fell with what
ever impetus was to be derived from
the hight it dropped. In precisely the
same way we saw gang of men driv-
ing piles for a bridge some fifty miles
inland. A common object in japanese
towns and villages is the rice-pounder.
A man, or sometimes a 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 filled with
rice, by which treadmill work an ap-
preciable portion is pounded. The
same primitive 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 journey of over $50 miles through
this portion of the interior did not see
u single plow. In the course of SUBJ
sequent journey through the southern
portion of the island / saw two miser-
able little things which man could
easily lift, drawn by an under-sized OK.
In almost universal use is the earliest
idea of plow. 1t is q spade, with
narrow blade about three feet long.
The farmer thrusts this well into the
soil, and, turning it over on one side,
makes furrow, the action and the re-
suit being identical with that of plow.
Only, watching the laborious process,
one thinks of the enormous strides ag-
riculture will take in Japan when these
rude instruments are cast aside, and
the plow is put to work. When the
rice is cut and dried it is stripped by
the simple process of drawing the
heads through small iron comb,
which does o handful at time. 1t is
thrashed by fail precisely of the same
make as that in use in the thrashing
floor of Nachon the time Uzzah put
forth his hand to steady the ark of God
that David was bringing up from Kir-
iath Jearim. When the rice is stripped
it is laid out to dry on mats spread in
the sun. In passing through q village
these mats covered with rice are fire.
quentiy to be seen fanking the full
length of the road on both sides. Japan
has many arts. Porcelain and earthen-
ware are manufactured in every prov
ince. Its enamelers on copper have no
rivals in the world. 1t has worked in
bronze, carvers of ivory, and is the
home of lacquer. But it is essentially
an agricultural country living by the
fruit of its land, According to the last
census, taken in 1880, the total popula-
ton was So, 900, 900, and of these near
ly 100000 were farmers in almost
equal proportion of sexes. Under the
present order of things, dating from
the revolution 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 proprietors, who, with their
wives and children, do all the farm
work. OF the balance, though held in
large sections, there is nothing akin to
the larger farms of England. In ad-
dition to the population returned as
farmers, there is a considerable pro-
portion of farm laborers. An able
bodied farm hand receives wages at
about the rate of tenpence 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 relishes in the
shape of eggs or salt fish. Rice is the
principal product of the empire, being
grown in all its provinces. Tea, silk,
and cotton come next, and in addition,
there are grown tobacco, wheat, bar
ley, millet, peas, and beans. OF late
years much attention has been given
to the culture of grapes, and the Jap
anese are not without hope that within
the next ten years they may introduce
and popularize in Europe a new vint-
age.--Cor. London Daily NeWs.