The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-17

The name of the writer should accompany
the letter or article, not necessarily for pub
LEGATION, but as an evidence of good faith.
A Drive Among Japanese Farms.
The artistic nicely of appearance of jap
anese farms has its natural counterpart on
the practical side, says W. H. W. Campbell
in the american -4griculturiSt. Land is
is dear and taxes are high. The land tax
was formerly 8 per cent, but, believe, is
now 30. Then there are specific taxes on
special crops, such as tea, rice and silk Ra-
tlonally, therefore, cult walton is thorough.
Not a square inch of soil is wasted, and the
land is kept up to high degree of fertility
In passing the farm houses, with their thick
walls of mud plastered upon mat work of
bamboo, and their enormously heavy
matched roofs, sometimes nearly yard in
thickness, the tourist is struck by the alb
sence of stables, cattle and horses. In some
regions these are moro numerous than IN
that through which we journeyed, but their
use is by no means common. There are
probably pigs in Japan, but we did not hap
pen to see them. Domestic fowls are noticed
here and there, often dwelling in social
familiarity in the family apartments, but
they are far from universal. Naturally,
then, the thrifty Japs are put to their trumps
for fertilizers; yet they use them profusely.
Everything available is called into requi-
stion, rags, rubbish, weeds, trimmings from
forests and groves; nothing that has par
ticle of fertilizing vigor in it is neglected.
OF course, in such circumstances much is
N
fluid or solid, is wasted. In every japanese
dwelling which we entered were various re-
firing rooms, usually as neat as wax and as
sweet as a confectioner's premises, where
arrangements were made for complete saw
ing in portable quantities.
In Some Of the large hotels, where Euro
pean apparatus has found place, there was
European waste and uncleanliness. In
primitive Japan nothing of the sort fell I'M
der cur observation, although in the wilder
districts it exists to some extent. Conven-
iently near all places of public resort, such
as tea houses or bazars were the little &C
combinations, practically equipped for fire.
quent smptying, easy Of access. Even the
wayfaing tramp was provided for, and he
scrupuously awaited himself of his priv
ileges An Englishman long resident in the
country informed me that many japanese
market gardeners were SO reckless in the use
of this material that he never used garden
vegetables maturing above ground, like
cabbage, spinach and the like, unless he per-
sonalyknew and approved the locality of
their gfowth. Well, there is such thing as
the abuse of the greatest blessings, but this
systemof manuring as practiced in Japan
and China has fully demonstrated its value
in keeping land in the highest state of fer
tility for centuries. Doubtless in the course
of tine agriculture the world over will be
driver to its adoption, as well for financial
as sanitary considerations.
Wenotice, as we go higher up the broad
valleI which we have been following, that
the throws in the grain fields become
deepet and deeper. They still keep up their
precision and nicely of form, but they have
deepeled from their original three to six
inches to foot or more. We pass few
ickly-looking tobacco plants, forming a
border hedge to barley field. We take
cross cut over a ridge into another valley
On the ridge we find the tea region. The
fields near the ridges are broken up into gil
gantic burrows, in some cases five or six
feet deep. 1t is not quite proper to cal
them burrows here, although they are only
the development of the furrow system.
They are really great mounds with cross
burrows or bitches between, built up Of
squared clods of puddled soil in many cases.
On these grow the same old crops which we
have been watching, with here and there a
few tea plants mixed in. Cucumber and
melon vines also appear. At this point the
furrow system becomes clearly Ineligible
to US. Its object is to arrest, corral and
store ND every drop of rain. The burrows
are all practically irrigating bitches, begin
ming shallow at the spots most remote from
the mountain torrents, and steadily in
creasing in dimensions till they assume the
mound form which has just been described.
| really should have guessed this all out
sooner, but some how l failed to do SO.
When the rains do come in this re-
gion. floods from the mountains are ter
rife, and the carefully furrowed. or might
better say diked, fields serve double pur-
pose. They not only compel the water to
flow slowly and settle into the soil, but they
aid in impeding torrents which would other
wise sweep the farm lands away with the
bosom of destruction. 1t was only about
ten years ago that the valley which we had
traversed was utterly devastated by the
overflow of the great rivers, which are but
dry sand beds in the protracted seasons Of
drought The water was some five feet on
the level in the great city of Osaka during
several days of that disastrous food. We
found this out later, but we might have
guessed it from the character of the road
over which we had driven. For q great
portion of the way across the plain we
were travelling over huge bikes. We went
for several miles ON one dixie over a high
way eighteen feet wide, while the level of
the road bed was twenty-five feet or so
above the surrounding farm land. We
crossed over and through number of 81
gantic bitches or sluice ways. They were
dry at the time, and where the road passed
through them the heavy drop gates were
removed. In two cases we made abrupt
descents from the beds of these bitches,
through massive granite walls into the
heart Of little villages, over twenty feet be-