The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1900-09-20
PARIS LETTER.
-, our Regular Correspondent.
PARIS, FRANCE, Sept. 3, 1900.


The Japanese agricultural exhibit
,,,rac,s attention not only on account
or,s novelty, but also because of the |
Joyclopment in this line, as in so
~onv other directions, of this remark
ahle Eas EN- people. "The wonder
S,I transformation Of the Empire of
,he Rising Sun has offered an example
'n,hout precedent in the history of
n,,ions. of people passing in less
,ban thirty years from the most feudal
Of Governments, to democratic and
parliamentary forms; from a clviliza-
ion rusty with age to one closely re
,emblinr our own"-says a French
writer in recently published book
on Japan. His observation is as true
fthe agricultural institutions as of
the other changes impressed upon the
social organization of Japan since
1868. A visitor can easily trace the
,evolution in economic conditions of
agriculture by examining, in the hall
on the Champ de Mars, the maps,
photographs, papers, diagrams, etc,
which accompany the collection of
hpanese products. The working
neople have especially benefited of
recent years, having acquired the right
70 own the soil, which for eighteen
centuries had been the property of the
Imperial government or of feudal
segneurs.
Japan is composed, as is well known
Of a considerable number of islands of
more or less Importance, scattered
from the South in a north westerly
direction. Mountains cover the
country and almost touch the shores
everywhere; plains are rarely found
and are of small extent. The soil is
not very productive, and it is neces-
sarry to use all of the sewage of the
towns and cities for fertilizlng purpos-
es. The total size of the land is a
little less than that of France, or
about the same as the State of Cali
fornia. This supports population OF
over 10000, 900, the native inhabl-
tants forming about forty three and a
quarter millions of this number. The
people are essentially agricultural,
and rice is the chief product of the
soil. Counting the number of acres
under cultivation, and the number OF
inhabitants, 1t is found that each
family has on an average 3 acres from
which to draw sustenance. Evidently
Japan is a country of small farms, and
is not adapted to the use of large
agricultural machinery. The popula'
ton, also, is so dense that hand labor
is very cheap. Workmen's wages are
about SIS yer year, women earning
about half that amount.
There is very little live stock In
Japan, the use of meat and milk by
the natives being extremely rare
There are now 100000 horses lr
the country, 1,Ia5,ooo head of cattle
100000 pigs, $4,000 goats and 4,3oc
sheep. The government is endeavor
ing to extend the use of the horse IL
agriculture, in order, perhaps, that tht
army may have better source o
supply. The horse is small animal
but his employment for agriculture
purposes would be even cheaper thai
hand labor Oxen are also utilized tt
small extent; the Japanese o.
weighs $50 pounds; he can draw so
pounds twelve miles day.
Besides rice, wheat, barley, potatoe:
cotton, tea, indigo, sugarcane, cam
phor etc, are cultivated in Japar
The government is endeavorlng i
every way to increase the surface o
land adapted for cultivation Of tn
poorer classes. Japan has a depart
ment of Agriculture; agricultural III
struction is branch of the depar
ment Of education; experlmer
grounds and stations, agronomical II
stitutions, agricultural schools and SC
cleties, travelling professors, laborato
ies--in short, best of foreign instltl
tions and methods have been intro
duced and prosper in Japan. Agr
cultural banks, companies for buyln
and loaning farm implements at con
mon expense, central bureaux for SALE
OF the products of the soil, ETC., are
be found on all of the islands. III
government is constantly buildir
roads, reclaming land, draining an
irrigating; it believes that scientific /
stitutions and cooperation from Il
two most powerful factors in agricu
ural progres.
A section of the Exposition of i
terest to Americans since the date
our acquisitions in the PHILIPPINES,
that devoted to cords and cables, l