Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1889-01-10
JAPANESE FARMING.
>UlTURE OF RICE, BARLEY, WHEAT.
FLOWERS AND WEEDS.
How Irrigation Is Carried On-ThOrOugh
Cultivation-Some Peculiar Gardening
Features-Ornamental Boundary Lines.
Wedding the Fields-Sparing the Flowers.


Cultivation-Some Peculiar Gardening
Features-Ornamental Boundary Lines.
Wedding the Fields-Sparing the Flowers.
My first drive was into a rice region
The fields were cut up into all sizes and
arranged upon ever varying levels Some
were but a few feet square, while a
quarter of an acre was large field The
best land yields fifty bushels an acre
more or less, and the poorest about thirty
It is rare to find two adjacent fields On
the same level Sloping land is of course.
more convenient for irrigation. but on
this fat area through which we were
travelling the little rice fields were
laboriously divided up at differing
heights, so that the water might be made
to flow easily from one to the other The
water is raised to the higher 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. standing
nearly to the hips in water and
slime Bullocks drawing long toothed
harrows were engaged in the same
operation. Wooden plows were also
at work. mere stirring up i'm
plements of wood with one handle.
They had a rounded nose, fortified with
an iron chisel. point beveled downward.
Then there was a rude plow with broad
ION share for turning shallow furrow.
snd heavy oblong hoes for working the
soil over and over. Grading scoops com
pleted the grand utensils, but for shaping
the causeways or narrow dykes between
the fields, the coolies used the usual
hand weapons In some of the fields
the rice was already showing thickly,
about six inches in height. giving
beautiful variety to the dismal land
scape of mud and scum. In other areas
the Seeding plants were being set out in
rows, six inches apart each way. The
crop is sown in May and reaped in October
or November, 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 GRAIN FIELDS.
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 consider
ably in width and architecture, so to
speak. They were in the rough at the
outset, so far as anything in Japan is en-
titled to that character, though they
would be smooth and elegant frrows
anywhere else. Then they began to be
sloped up slanting, smoothed off as evenly
as the sides of a house. Others were
squared with mathematical precision On
the ridges the barley is sown in thick set
rows, apparently by hand. On the mar
rover ridges but 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 a
man watering this extra crop. which ap-
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
wooden hand dipper with slit in the side
at the bottom, which let out thin disk
of water. Throughout the fields of this
vast region were numerous wells, with
the old fashioned well sweep Not only
Me ridges but the burrows themselves 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
micelli-for we did not discover any use
OF bread by the Japs, except in rare cases
where the custom had been borrowed from
Europeans. There were immense fields
n CO Of hot l1 III
which we took to be rape seed. This
crop was being 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 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 appearance of being carefully
Matted by hand, so smooth and even were
their surfaces.
ORNAMENTAL BOUNDARY LINES.
Then, in addition to the nice regularity
OF the town crops, there was another
peculiar gardening feature. No fences or
hedges appeared in the fields, for good
land is too valuable, being worth $500 to
$500 the acre, and even more in some
cases. Boundaries are marked by stakes
or stones, with the owners names or
symbol attached. This is not difficult to
regulate, as many of the patches are very
small. But III place of fences there were
crop boundaries in many places on the
rim Of the fields. For example, thickly
sown row of wheat would extend all
around barley field. The rows of grain
usually ran with the ends toward the
road, and the bordering row of another
crop had pretty effect. In some cases,
however, the grain rows would run one
way for a certain distance and then would
come another patch sown at right angles.
This was also quite novel and picturesque
Sometimes the ornamental border would
be of the same crop, as barley around bar
ley, but this was not usually the case
The wedding of these fields is perfect,
and our cultivators might take lesson
from the Japs. Numbers of women were
crouched between the files of barley weed
ing by hand. With the furrow system
the cultivator is out of place; and more
over, handwork is the rule in this crowded
country, and in days drive of thirty two
miles we only saw two horses. Where
animals were employed they were bullocks
Or wretched little cows. All were shod
with sandals of rice straw. The wedding
women were attended by boys, who care
fully lugged the spoil out Of the fields in
baskets or mats. Near the scattered farm
houses the weeds were spread out to cure.
They are utilized as food for people and |
cattle, and for bedding for the beasts, but |
mostly for manure. Along the roadsides |
men were cutting grass and weeds with |