The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-12-28


approaches the area of the state of California
OF this area Japan has only I2OoOODo acres
In cultivation by the spade, natto.k pillow.
| FROM this cultivated area all the food and
| textile plants are grown to feed and Clothe
| "S,O0O,oUO people. The land outside of this
cultivation docs not contribute by grazing to
/ their support with Us, as the japanese
wear no WOODEN clothing and eat neither beef,
! pork, mutton. milk, butter nor cheese. The
untitled area yields them only fuel Their
| l2,OO,OOO acres do even more than 10 clothc
| and feed their -, 900, 900 people. They yield
| iO,oOO,OOO pounds of tea, - 600 bales of silk
| and large quantities of rice, tobacco and
hemp for expectation.
| TILLERS of THE SOIL
! In a population of -, 900 900 there are 90
100000 who belong to the agricultural class.
! There are 100000 landhoders. The land
| holders average two and two thirds acres.
J There are few men who own and till ten
acres, and there are many who have one acre
and less. IL Is not o. DC understood that an
the labor OF 2o,OO,OOO Of people is expended
! upon l2DO,WO Of acres Of land Every
farmers family has its wheel, reel warping
! bars ami loom, the early settlers of this
/ continent had, and their cotton, linen and silk
/ cloth Is made for family use and even for sale.
! The climate is mild that on the lower
| levels the soil never freezes, and ON much o.
/ the land both summer and winter crops are
raised tn" same year In order To maintain
| the fertility of the soil with this double. de-
nEtnd upon IL, repeated fertilization Is pruc-
tisest. The number of domestic animals is
comparatively small. There is no other cuun-
try in the world with such areas unoccupicl
for tillag" AMI ~ well adapted To grazing that
has 80 few domeStI, animals. The result of
this condition il that the farmer has mo- barn
yard fertilizers. Deprive the farmer i'm the
older settled states IN this country of these
sources and there would be no agriculture.
but tn" Japanese without them. and without
any knowledge of agricultural botany or
chemistry have reached crop rate uIcqualed
ia Eurnp" or America. With no stock 10
feed there are no uses for wheat, rye or bar
ley bran, and these are used to enrich the soil.
They also Use dccomposed non-edible sea
weeds. The whole seacoast line Of those
Islands must aggregate more than = 900 miles.
AL along this line the tithss deposit great win
nows of seawecd, which is collected durin.
low tide, piled up and allowed to decompuse,
AMI is then sold to- the farmers. IL is carried
up To the foothills III boats and thence by
long lines Of pack horses To the fields.
LACK OF MACHINERY.
OF labor saving machinery Japan has al |
most none. The pillow, the symbol of tilaga |
IN Europe and America, is justly held in low |
esteem, and little used. The good farmer |
there viii have it only when labor is scarce |
and the seed time is passing by. The implc- |
nent used for stirring and commimutimg the |
soil Is n wide bladed nlattock. Sometimes in |
very heavy soils, prongcd mattock is us,,i, |
but generally it is the bladed mattock that |
does the work. Ii an awkward, heavy |
looking implement, but it is better than it |
looks The hiale is twelve inches in length |
and five inches wide. The handle Is five feet
IN length, To which the blade is hung at an
acute angle that when by n blow it is
inf h..
lifting the earth. BY this instrument the soil
is not only turned over, but it is thoroughly
pulverized. Often the ground is gone over
again and again till the soil is thoroughly
comninuted. Sometimes IA plow Is used hy
those who have clay soils and large areas of
land. IL Is not as usually described by globe
trottcrs, crude, imperfect implement 1t is
light easily run and docs good work 1t is
drawn 10y one animal, usually u COW, but
sometimes by horse. Ii the pillow Is used
the ground is powed and replowed
AN INTELLIGENT FARMER
In company with Gen. Van Buren,. the
United States consul general at Yokohama
the writer visited the agricultural fields nj |
kioto, the old capital. There the conqucring
race had titled the soil for more than 2,,iD1
years. We saw a man blowing near the road
and we stopped to talk with him. He in
formed us that he had harvested Il crop of
rice. which, after being huled, averaged
seventy bushels 10 the acre, and that the
winter crop on the same land had been
wheat, with average yield of forty
bushels to the acre In addition to
this, between the rows drills of wheat,
early in February, he had Sown a crop of
early vegetables. He was then blowing the
land the fourth time, and informed us that he
usually plowed II eight times In reply To
the question why he plowed il often he
said: In order to make the soil yield such
good crops year after year must use all
the fertilizers which the soil transmit 10
the roots of the plants. To do this we must
have the soil completely pulverized So that
the roots can penetrate every portion of it.
Another reason is that we put large guam
tlty of compost manure the land before
blowing, and IL is desirable t. have it com
pletely mixed with the soil" To our ex-
preston Of surprise Mt the enormous Yield
he said that farther down the valley the soil
was deeper and finer and that it yielded better
returns than he realized. and that some Of |
the best land yielded fifty bushels of wheat in
the winter and sevent five bushels of rice in
the summer, besides the crop of vegetables
between the wheat rows in the spring
THE STAPLE CROP
Rice Is the great crop of the country Fully
one-half Of all the land under tillage is de
voted 20 that food plant. There are two gen
eral varieties Of rice Grown-low land and
ui''t'ihi- ~'Nidsi' iitt Il grown IN the val
lcys AMI ON the plains where the irrigation is
practicable, and where the plant can 10 !
fioadSt In order that this can hr done. the
land is suhdivi,led into small plats, and lrvecd
or embarked. In valleys that have any slop.. /
IN order that the plat may bc Lowell. the en-
Lank-d subdivisions must lie small. not larger /
III MANY instances than a good Sizrd room: in |
others rs large rs an average sized house, I
and the valley must have very gentle SLOPE /
To allow the plats TO contain more than a half /
acre. The establishments made OF mud /
and arc about two and one half feet high /
Their construction and the dwelling of the /
pats, involves considerable labor, but the re-
suits richly repay IL.
Every variety of vegetable is grown and
theSc people have domesticated many kinds | :
of plants that are still known to Us only as