El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-19
SEEDS FROM THE EAST.
Professor Knapp's Visit to China.
Japan and Manila.
RESULT OF HIS INVESTIGATIONS

An Improved Kind of Rice From ia
pan-Primitive Methods of Agricul-
ture In Japan and China-The Ag-
rfcuIturnI and Mineral Wealth Of
the Philippines.
Professor S. A. Knapp has lately re-
turned from a visit to Japan. China
and the Philippines, where he went as
agent of the agricultural department to
secure such native seeds and plants as
could be proftably grown and developed
in the United States and to procure for
experiment an improved kind Of rice
grown and cultivated in Japan. Mr.
Knapp said to reporter the other day
"Many parts of our rice belt have
suffered considerable loss by breakage
in the milling of the rice, due to the
poor quality of the grain In many dis
tricts over so per cent is broken in
milling. The loss to the planter is easily
seen when it is known that head or
whole rice brings 2 cents more to the
pound than that which has been broken
The agricultural department took the
question under consideration, knowing
that if quality of rice could be Sc
cured that would not break to any large
extent during the milling process it
would be great saving to the planters
Specimens from all rice growing conn
tries of the world were secured by the
department. and after careful analysis
it was found that the rice grown in
Japan would come nearest to solving
the problem.
sI secured carload of rice. which is
now on its way across the continent
from San Francisco from the island of
Kyushu, which lies south of the In and
sea- The quality of this rice is much
superior to that of China and the Phil
ippines, for the reason that it is better
cultivated, that the berry is rounder
and that it is less liable to break under
milling process. In addition to rice 1
brought some varieties of pears that are
considered blightproof and recommend
ed by the Imperial Agricultural society
of Japan for general use as grating stock
on account of being so hardy. l also Sc
cured in Japan a variety of camphor
tree, used to make commercial camphor,
which will stand heavy frost. Among
other varieties secured is new forage
plant known as the hagi, a species of the
lespideza. It will grow on dry and thin
soil, should be cut four or five times
every year and is pronounced as nutri-
tious as clover. Believing that its intro
duction would be exceedingly beneficial
to the southern states on account of the
variety of uses to which it can be put.
I secured several varieties of bamboo.
Japan" continued Mr.. Knapp,
lean never cut any great figure in agri-
culture outside of her own necessities.
because the area of arabic land is so
small that there is only enough to pro-
duce food for her own people. There
are from A, 900. 900 to 40, 600, 900 peo-
pie in the empire. and the land that
can be cultivated is only 10, 900 square
miles, or about one-third Of the area Of
the state of Iowa.
Japan must exert her greatest inf1u
ence in the industrial world through
her manufactures and not through her
agriculture. ALI of her agriculture is a
hand process, like gardening For ex-
ample. the rice and wheat produced in
the empire is first planted in hotbeds
and transplanted in the fields. treating
Il the same as our farmers do cabbage
The fields are so small that it is impos
sible to use machinery on them.
I'm methods of cultivation the con-
ditions in China are similar to those in
Japan, except that China is a very large
country, and the area of fertile land is
larger in proportion. Nearly all the la
Dor on the farms and in the fields is
done by hand. Undoubtedly within a
few years China will be opened to the
trade of the world. and the commerce
will be of such vast extent that it will
give great impetus to trade in our
own country.
''In great many respects the gen
eral character of the Philippine Islands
is like that of Japan, but there is
much larger area of land that can be
cultivated. The islands lie in the warm
ocean current. so that the temperature
is as conducive to growth as that of
any country in the world. while the
rainfall is very heavy and uniform. The
report of the Manila observatory shows
that in some years rain falls as many as
200 days, while the annual average of
rainfall is from seven to ten feet.
Referring to the principal products of
the islands. Professor Knapp said that
north Luzon was mainly devoted to rice
and tobacco. central Luzon to rice and
sugar. southern Luzon to hemp, the is
lands of Panay, Negros and Zebu to
sugar while the island of Mindanao ia
famous for its fine timber. Just before
the professor left Manila a section of
mahogany tree seven feet in diameter
was brought in from that island The
mineral wealth of the islands is as great
as the agricultural. the supplies of coal.
iron and copper being very rich. Many
coal mines are reported with to 10 foot
veins. New York Sun.
Mouse Caught by Frost.