Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1886-12-29
AN INTELLIGENT FARMER.

AN INTELLIGENT FARMER
In company with Gen Van Buren,, the
United States consul general at Yokohama
the writer visited the agricultural fields at
Kioto, the old capital. There the conquering
race had titled the soil for more than 1900
years We saw q man blowing near the road
and we stopped to talk with HIS. lie in
formed us that he had harvested crop of
rice, which, after being huIied, averaged
severity bushels TO the acre, and that the
winter crop on the same land had been
wheat, with an average yield Of forty
bushels to the acre. In addition to
this between the rows or drills If heat,
early in February, he had sown a cop Of
early vegetables. He was then plow: z the
land the fourth time, and informed L, that he
usually plOwed it eight times. In reply to
the question why he plowed /: so often he
said: In order to make tie soil yield such
good crops year after year we must use all
the fertilizers which the soil can transmit to
the roots of the plants. To do this we must
haze the soil completely pulverized so that
the roots can penetrate every portion of it.
Another reason is that we put large guam
tity of compost manure on the land before
blowing. and it is desirable to have it com
plctelY mixed with the soil" To our ex-
preston Of surprise at the enormous yield,
he said that farther down the valley the soil
was deeper and finer and that il yielded better
returns than he realized, and that some Of
the best land yielded Fifty bushels Of wheat il
the winter and seventy-fve 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
ons-half of all the land under tillage is de-
voted to that food plant. There are two gem
eral varieties of rice grown-low land and
INLAND. LowlQnd rice is grown in The val
leyS and on the plains where the irrigation is
practicable, and where the plant can be
flooded In order that this can he done. the
land is sabdiyidei mtosmall plats, and ieyeed
or embarked. In valleys that have any slope,
in order that TIE plat may be level, the en-
banked subdivisions must be small, not larger
in many instances than q good sized room; in
others. as large as an average sized house,
and the valley must have a very gentle slope
to allow the plats 70 contain more than q half
acre. The entertainments are made Of mud,
ard ere about two and one half feet high.
Their construction and the leveling Of the
plats. involves considerable labor, but the re-
suits richly repay ii.
Every variety of vegetable is grown, and
these people have domesticated many kinds
Of plants that are still known TO Us only as
weeds There are at least 100 food plants
useful in domestic economy, which we could
borrow from them to advantage. These IS
hn6ers have successfully done what we have
attempted and failed to do. They produce
oil or nearly all the sugar they use. In
Japan, since long before written records, the
sorghum cane has been grown, and Eranu-
lated Su or has been made from il In 1851,
81. uGl,oo9 pounds wers produced. Any
ragged coolie with rusty pot can take the
juice Of the sorghum cane and make fine
granulated C sugar.-Japan Cor. San Fran
CISCO Chronicle.