The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-04-06
FARMING I'm JAPAN
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.
Rv FRANK G. CARPENTER.

digging. I have seen women wit
babies tied to, their backs thus r
ling in the rice fields. Their klmone
are tied up over their knees, and. the.
wade through the mud as they set on
the plants. I know Of no crop Wnici
takes so much work as. rice, n TN
is the money crop-of Japan. 1t rank
here as wheat does with Us, n Japa1
is rich or poor according as the re
CROP does we'll or i'll. In times pas
the royal taxes were paid in rice, ant
t today the fi1fanciers watch the grown
Of his crop as oar people do corn
cotton and wheat.
The Rice Crop,
The greater part Of the rice croI
is raised by Irrigation. The feld'
are made at different levels, and tn
/ water from the hills is run by
| from one to the other. The ground i:
prepared during the winter. 1t is GOV
cred with manure and made as leVe
the floor. Along about the 1st O.
April it is broken TIP with q hoe o.
spade and then flooded.
II the meantime the rice plants
have been grown from the seeds II
nurseries. They are taken up ano
scattered over the water as needed
Then the men, women and children
of the family tie up their clothes an6
| wade out in the mud. They set the
! plants out in rows of punches Of foul
or six pants each. They are 50 close
together that it takes from loo tC
5000 punches per acre. The water is
left on and the rice rapidly grows.
The planting is done about June
The rice soon appears above the wa
ter and within a few weeks the whole
of the country is a beautiful green
| Almost every plant is watched. One
sees big hated farmers dressed ir
blue " trOtting along through the
fields. II they see q plant out OF
shape or not deep enough in the wa
ter, they Will reach down n fix il
and in this way every rice stalk yields
its best product. AS to the amount
Of labor required for such cultivation
il you Will imagine one OF our farmers
~sprouting his wheat in q seed bed. and
then setting out each plant with q
dibble and wedding and ~cultivating it,
you will get some idea of it.
Harvesting Rice.
The harvesting of the rice is even
moro difficult than harvesting wheat.
After the grain is cut, it has to be
pulled from the straw and be hUsked
before it can be used. If you will take
q sheaf of ripe oats, and then pull
them over q crOss-cut saw, fastened
to a piece of wood about the height
Of table, SO that all the grains are
torn off, you will have q fair idea of
how the Japanese get their rice from
the straw. The grains are still in
the husks. and the husks have to be
taken off before it can be used. This
is mostly done by hand, the grains in
the shell being put in q mortar and
pounded with q wooden pest1e until
the kernels are free. Some of the
farmers have rice mills, worked by
water, and others hulling machines,
worked by hand. Much of the rice
is ~winnowed by machinery, small hand
mills being used.
A good rice field ought to produce
forty bushels to the acre, and some of
the best and here produce more.
Japan has altogether almost 200 diff
ferent kinds Of rice. and it raises
some Of the best rice Of the world. It's
finest varieties are SO valuable that
much of them are exported to other
countries, the nation importing poorer
Kinds at lower prices for its own food
In the Farm Villages.
The Japanese farmers seldom live
on their farms. They have little viii
lagos OF wooden houses, matched with
straw. Here they come at night and
from here they go out in the morn
ing to work. The people generally
work in gangs. You seldom see a
man alone in the fields. A whole
family, father, mother, boys and girls,
dii NOlh toSttIci. mere are many
hired hands, and the wages paid are
exceedingly small. 1t is a poor part
OF h United States where a farm
hand is not worth so cents a day
and his board. or where he gets less
than $15 q month. If employed the
year round. The wages here without
board are is cents per day for men
and 10 cents for with much
less for children. The work goes on
from sunrise to sunset, and it is fully
as hard as any on our farms at home.
Hands employed by the year receive
prOportionately less. Including board.
men are paid about SIS q year. or
less than So a month; the women get
about $50, or q little more than 81 q
month. In q government report of
1900 L see that male farm 1aborers
were getting less than $40 q year. and
females less than $40. Their is ?