Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-11-09
THE FARMS OF JAPAN.
SOME PECULIARITIEs OF ORIENT
AL CULTIVATION.
Raising Rice, Barley, Rape Seed,
Buckwheat, Peas and Flowers
Systematic Weed Culture.


In a farming country like Japan,
where in the best districts the roads are
as smooth as a floor, jinrik1sha travel af-
fords the joliiest of opportunities for
observation The jinrikisha, Chinese
invention, is an overgrOwn doll chalse,
of size to carry one or two men, and
drawn by team of one, two or three
Japs. They whisk you over the road at
a steady pace of six miles an hour On the
level-sometimes exceeding that rate
and will average nearly i've miles on
mixed grades. have one record of
nine and three-fifths miles made in one
hour and twenty three minutes by a
single man on level.
My first drive was into rice region.
The fields were cut up into all sizes, and
arranged upon ever varying levels. Some
were but few feet square, while quar-
ter of an acre was a large field. The
best land yields fifty bushels an acre,
more or less, and the poorest about
thirty. 1t is rare to find two ad acent
fields on the same level. Slipping land
is of course more convenient for irriga-
ton, but on this fiat area through which
we were travelling the little rice fields
were labOriously divided up at different
heights, so that the water might be
made to flow easily from one to the
patches mostly by treadmill pumps. We
were on the ground in season to witness
the earlier stages of rice cultivation. In
some fields the bare stubs of the last crop
were dismally peerIng out of the mud.
In others laborers were tearing up the
stubs with heavy pronged forks, stand
ing nearly to the hips in water and
slime. Bullocks drawing long toothed
harrows were engaged in the same Oper-
alton Wooden. ploughs were also at
work, mere stirring-up implements Of
wood with one handle, They had a
rounded nose, fortified with an iron
chisel point beveled downward. Then
there was a rude p ough with broad iron
share for turning a shallow furrow, and
heavy oblong hoes for working the soil
over and over. Grading scoops COM
peted the grand utensils, but for shap-
ing the causeways, or narrow dykes be-
tween the fields, the coolies used the
usual hand weapons. The crop is sown
in May and reaped in October or Novem-
be-, being grubbed or puddled three
times during the season. This means
that the whole population wade into the
slime, pull out the weeds, and stir up
the mud about the roots of the plants.
The first thing that struck US in the
barley and wheat region was the peculiar
burrows. They were very shallow at
first, varying somewhat in depth, and
considerably in width and architecture,
so to speak. They were in the rough at
the outset, so far as anything in japan
is entitled to that character, though
they would be smooth and elegant fur
rows anywhere else. Then they began
to be sloped up slanting, smoothed off
as evenly as the sides of house.
Others were squared with mathematical
precision. On the ridges the barley is
s0wn in thick-set rows, apparently by
hand On the narrower ridges but a
single row appeared; on the broader
ones were two rows, and more rarely
three. Outside these grain rows the
ridges were utilized for other crops,
mostly rows of buckwheat, but we saw
also sweet potatoes, turnips, beans, and
the like. In one place we observed
man watering this extra crop, which APP
peared odd, as the ground seemed moist
enough. To accomplish this primitive
irrigation he carried two buckets slung
over his shoulders on pole, and used a
wooden nd-dipper with a slit in the
side at the bottom, which let out thin
disk of water. Throughout the fields
of this vast region were numerous wells. f.
with the old-fashioned we'll sweep. Not
only the ridges but the burrows them
selves are sometimes utilized for crops.
The only thing we saw growing there,
however, was what our courier informed
US was bird seed.
Aside from the barley was wheat also,
used mostly for the manufacture of YER
mlcelli-for we did not discover any use
of bread by the laps, except in rare
cases where the custom had been bor-
rowed from Europeans. There were i'm
mense fields also of what our guide /
called oil plant, which we took to be
rape seed. This crop was harvested, as
also was the barley in warm localities, it
being the latter part of May. There
were also large patches of beans and
peas, and one of the thin grass like reed
whose pith furnishes japanese lamps !
with wicking. We were, however, more !
occupied with the style and character of /
the farming than with crop statistics. /.
And this style was really gardening on
grand scale. The nice little burrows, to
which l have referred, all had the APP
pearance of being carefully patted by !
hand, so smooth and even were their |
surfaces.
Then, in addition to the nice regu-
larity of the sown crops, there was
another peculiar gardening feature. No |
fences or hedges appeared in the fields, /
for good land is too valuable, being /
worth five to nine hundred dollars the /
acre, and even more in some cases.