The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-01-01
FARMING IN JAPAN.
PRIMITIVE METHODS OF AGRI-
CULTURE IN THAT COUNTRY.
Two-Acre Farms-Magnificent lrri'
gation-Very Few Cattle-Scarci-
ty of Horses-Machineryi i'll Little
Use-Happy Farm Laborcrs.

well cultivated that one acre IN japan
produces more than five acres IN Amer
lea. and some of the richest Of these
fields have been producing two crops
wear for more than ten centuries. The
Japanese are scientific farmers, and their
country is the triumph of careful
irriqation and fertilization. ia
pan has large irrigation works. There
are great reservoirs for the mountain
streams, and the water is taken from one
place to another through winding
bitches, until it covers q great area OF
TERRITORY. 1t is raised from one level to
another by pumps and water-wheels.
About Osaka, in the cotton-helds oil
Western Japan, saw hundreds OF wells,
each with its tall pump, in which the
water was raised i'll buckets attached to
long poles, the balance OF which was
aided by the fastening of stones or mud
to the handle.
The japanese fully understand the I'M
portance of irrigation, and they estimate
that irrigated lands require only about
two-thirds as much fertilizer as non-lrrl-
gated lands. Manure is costly article
in Japan. 1t seems strange to think OF
a country without cattle. But this IS
what Japan was until few years ago.
AT present, there is not more than one
COW to every fifty people in Japan, and a
drove of sheep would be looked upon by
the farmers of the interior as wild AMI
mails. At present, the butter used by the
1orl;eners of Japan is imported, ana there
are not more than dozel diaries IN the
whole country. 1 had great trouble says
Frank Carpenter, in the -1mertca@ Agr!-
,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, and the butter furnished was 1Ra@
ported in cans from France. l at last
found little dairy of half dozen COWS,
situated in the heart Of the city. The
COWS were as clean as though they had
been given Turkish baths for weeks, but
the butter furnished me was as white as
the SHOWS upon the top of Fuzlyama, and
it cost me one dollar pound. 1t was
made without salt, and was wrapped up
in green leaf for me to carry home.
Horses are almost as scarce as COWS,
and the average japanese horse IS
scrawny, scraggy, and underfed. When
used as a beast of burden, the driver
usually walks beside the horse instead of
riding him, and when hitched to cart
he goes in front and leads him. / saw
but little plowing, and found very few
horses, save in the mountainous districts,
where they were used as pack-animals.
The average horse in Japan has shoes of
straw, instead of iron, and until recently
distances were measured by the number
of straw shoes that a man or horse
would wear out in going from one place
to another. These straw shoes are about
half an inch thick They are made OF
rice straw braided so as 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 as soon as they be-
come worn. These shoes cost less than
a cent a set, and US to the straw san
dals which the men wear, you can buy
Ieight of them for one cent. All along
the country roads of Japan you will see
the straw shoes of men and horses, and l
am told that the average horseshoes will
last for about an eight-miles' walk.
1t is human muscle, however, that cul-
To,,op re h,,cbopHry ic that pf
the spade and the mattock, rather than
the plow. The most common agricultu-
raj implement is hoe, with blade OF
iron or steel, six inches wide and two
feet long. The handle to this is about
the size of an ax-handle, and the farmer
digs up the ground with it, bending his
back double at every stroke. Japanese
farming is back-breaking work, and in
my drives through the country seldom
saw man or woman who was working
in the fields in any position than that OF
right angle, and the most common sight
was bent-over male figure whose sole
clothing consisted of cloth and straw
hat which, for all the world like an in
verted butter-bowl, hid his features from
view. Women working in the fields
were clad in single garment, which was
usually of blue, and some of them had
bright handkerchicfs covering their heads.
Both sexes work together, and have
never seen people who, with all their
hardships, enjoyed their work more.
They laughed as they worked, and.
though their hours Of labor are long, their
siestas are frequent.
The japanese farn-wcrkman labors
from A. NJ. until ?. NJ, but he is sup
posed to take about three hours every day
for rest. He usually has little fire or Il
box of charcoal somewhere III the field,
and on this fire pot of hot water per-
petually steams. Beside 1t lies his little
pipe, with a bowl no bigger than a
thimble, and he stops from time to time
to make 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,
paupers are practically unknown.
The home life of the farmer and farm
laborer is far pleasanter than that of his
class in any other Eastern country. When
he goes home from his work, he viii
take a hot bath before supper, and he
will take another when he gets up in the
morning. If he is very tired, he will
call in blind shampooer, who will knead
his whole body until every part of it is