Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-07-15
FARMING IN JAPAN.
irrigation Brings Wonderful Results in
Spite of Primitive Methods.


To most minds the very word farm sug-
Cests acres of waving corn with horses.
cows chickens. plows reaping machines
and ali the latest improvements generally
found on a Furnishing goth century farm
in the Occident. No contrast could be
greater than between the farms of Ameri-
ca and those of japan. BY courtesy the
pocket handkerchief allotments of the lat
Ter country are called farms but they
are scarcely larger than an American
vegetable garden. As the fields are so
small the farn-houses are often built in
cluster. forming one long. struggling
street Very little meat is consumed. and
the staple articles of diet are the pro-
ducts of the soil. Cows are seldom seen
| in Japan. consequently milk butter and
| cream are also missing The average
Japanese farm resolves itself into a small
| field Of rice millet beans or sorghum.
In spite of all that modern invention and
| genius has done for the Western World
and in spite, too. Of the great wave of
! progress that has swept over Japan in the
| last 80 years. its peasant farmer in that
| country and his primitive methods remain
unchanged.
| About one-half of the entire population
| of Japan is engaged in cultivating the
| soil. and all this work is done by hand
| The implements used are of the most
primitive kind The plows are made of
| rough wood, to which an iron point is at
tached. and are said to be the facsimile
| Of those used in the davs of Pharaoh
! They are frequently drawn by n bullock
and both implement and beast are guided
| by Il man or woman who walks patiently
all dav long through the slush and nire of
| the rice fields In cultiVating a hoe is
used the blade Of which is set at an angle
| of nearly A. degrees and is almost as
Ion. "a the rough wooden handle. Japan
produces crops of fine wheat, especially
in the southern part Of the country and
tive OF all An implement very much
like a curry comb i'm aupearance is used
| for this purpose. 1t is made sometimes of
iron and sometimes Of wood and as it is
drawn upwards through the straw the
heads are snapped off. Compare this with
the American machine which cuts n swath
y feet wide. removes the heads and Gle
Yates the wheat into a wagon of special
construction
Yet. with these primitive tools Il is
astonishing to find the magnificent harvest
that the Japanese farmer reaps The rice
crop occupies one-half Of the land under
cultivation and it is said that the Japan
ESQ farmer produces better rice and a
greater quantity Der acre than any farmer
i'm the world As ii is the STAPLE article
of diet. there is a tremendous home con-
SUMPTION. and the foreign trade is rap,dlv
increasing. such an influence has the rice
crop on the commerce of Japan that some
times business operations are almost sus-
pended when ii is feared ii may fail ow-
ing to unpropitious weather. The failure
would be n national calamity. for it would
mean financial disaster for n great many
persons and some of the largest CONNER
cial enterprises would be compelled &c
close their doors. The secret of the sue.
cess of Japanese farming is certainly moi
attributable to the implements employed
but there are two other great factors ir
the cultivation of the soil and they ar,
fertilization and irrigation. and in thes,
/ the farmer of Japan is certainly an adept
Only one-twelfth of the area of the en-
| pire can be used for agricultural purposes
| and by centuries of systematic irrigation
} and fertilization IT has been brought I,
the highest state of cultivation. The side
, of the hills and mountains are terraced
? as are also the rice fields The rain