Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-02-07
FARMING In JAPAN.
PRIMITIVE METHODS OF AGRI-
CULTURE IN THAT COUNTRY.
Two-Acrc Reconsideration Irri-
gation-vcry Few CnttIc-Scarci-
~ Of HOrscs--Machincry I'm Little
Csc-Happy Farm Laoorcrs.

than two acres in size, but the land is so
well cultivated that one acre i'm japan
produces more than i've acres in Amer
ica, and some of the richest of these
fields have been producing two crops II
year for more than ten centuries. The
Japanese arc scientific farmers, and their
country is the triumph of careful
irrigation and fertilization. Jn-
pan has large irrigation works. There
arc great reservoirs for the mountain
streams, and the water is taken from one
place to another through winding
bitches, until 1t covers great area of
territory. 1t is raised from one level to
another by pumps and watcrwhccls.
About Osaka, in the cotton-ffcltls Of
Western japan, l saw hundreds of wells,
each with its tall pump, in which the
water was raised in buckets attached 10
long poles, the balance of which was
aided by the fastening of stones or mud
to the handle.
The japanese fully understand the inn
portance of irrigation, aud they estimate
that irrigated lands require only about
two-thirds rs much fertilizer rs non-irri-
gated lands. Manure is Il costly article
in Japan. 1t seems strange to think Of
Il country without cattle. But this is
what Japan was until Il few years ago.
At present, there is not more than one
COW to every fifty people in Japan, and Il
drove Of sheep would be looked upon by
the farmers of the interior as wild ami
mails. AT present, thcbultcr used by the
foreigners Of Japan is imported, and there
are not more than dozen dairics in the
whole country. had great trouble, says
Frank Carpenter, in the american Ayri-
culturist, in Toxic in finding butter which
would suit my wife, who was not very
well at the time. We were living at the
hotel, aud the butter furnished was i'm
ported in cans from France | ut last
found little dairy of half dozen COWS,
situated i'll the heart of the city. The
cows were rs clean as though they had
been given Turkish baths for weeks, but
the butter furnished me wns as white rs
the SHOWS upon the top of Fuziyama, and
it cost me one dollar Il pound. 1t was
made without salt, and was wrapped up
i'll green leaf for me to carry home.
Horses are almost as scarce us cows,
and the average Japanese horse is
scrawny, scraygy, and undcrfcd. When
used rs II beast of burden, the driver
usually walks beside the horse instead of
riding him, and when hitchcd to Il cart
he goes in front and leads him. saw
but little blowing, aud found very few
horses, save in the mountainous districts,
where they were used rs pack animals
The average horse i'll Japan has shoes Of
straw, instead of iron, and until recently
distances were measured by the number
of straw shoes that Il man or Il horse
would wear out in going frous one place
to another. These straw shoes are about
half an inch thick. They are made of
rice straw braided so rs to form sole
for the horses foot, and they are tied on
by straw strings just below the fetlOcks.
Every cart has stock of fresh new shoes
tied to- the horses harness, and the driver
keeps his eyes on the feet of his beast
and changes his shoes us soon rs they be
come worn. These shoes cost less than
II cent Il set, and rs to the straw SAN
tlals which the men wear, you can buy
.ght of them for one ccnt. All along
lie country roads OF Japan you Will sec
&c straw shoes of men and horses. and I
IL told that the average horscshocs will
st for about iii cisht-milcs' walk.
1t is human muscle, however, that Gull
tivatcs Japan. Its husbandry is that of
the spade and the mattock, rather than
the plow The most common agricultu-
raj implement is II hoe, with Il blade OF
iron or steel, six inches wide and two
feet long. The handle to this is about
the size of an aNhandlc, and the farmer
digs up the ground with it. bending his
back double ut every stroke. japanese
farming is back-breaking work, and III
my drives through the country seldom
SAW Il man or woman who was working
i'll the fields in any position than that of
right angle, and the most common sight
was bcnt-ovcr male figure whose sole
clothing consisted of cloth and straw
hat which, for all the world like an in
vcrtcd buttcr-bowl, hid his features from
view. Women working in the fields
were clad in Il single garment, which was
usually of blue, and some of them had
bright handScrchiefs covering their heads
both sexes work together, and L have
never seen people who, with all their
hardships, enjoyed their work more
They laughed rs they worked, and.
though their hours OF labor are long, their
sicstas arc frequent.
The japanese farm workman labors
from Z y. NJ. until =. NJ, but he is sup
posed TO take about three hours every day
for rest. He usually has IL little fire or Il
box OF charcoal somewhere IN the field.
and on this fire pot of hot water per-
petually steams. Beside 1t lies his little
pipe, with IL bowl no bigger than a
thimblc, and he stops from time to time
to make n cup of tea and to smoke his
pinch of tobacco. The wages are, on the
average, about ten cents day for men,
and not more than that amount for
women. Still, the wants of the people
are few, and though poverty is common,
paupcrs arc practically unknown.
The home life of the farmer and farm
laborcr is far pleasantcr than that of his
class in any other Eastern country. When
he goes home from his work, he will
i II