Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-01

I tirely covered with bundles OF similar
fuel. A single animal will carry al.
4 most l. 900 pounds. or as much as one
1 horse could haul in n cart in our coun-
/ try Indeed, the load is so large that
4 YOU could not put it into an American
4 cart It rises six or eight feet above
I the back Of the bullock. and hangs
! down on the sides almost to his feet, SO
] that one sees little more than his head,
I tail and hoofs as he goes along the
4 read. There are ponies carrying Nvood,
4 choppedSinto stove lengths and tied up
i in bundles, and men laden with char-
/ coal which has been made in the hilis.
The chief form of heating here is by
\ flues which run under the floor. ana
straw twigs and pine branches are ex-
4 cellent for this purpose. a bunch IS
4 put in at the entrance of the fiues and
I lighted, and its flames spread out, max
4 ing the floors hot almost to roasting.
One OF the first works of the Japa-
nese Miil be to stop this skinning or
! the mountains They will plant trees
as fast as possible upon the available
| bills. thus conserving the rainfall and
/ greatly increasing the land susceptible
| to cultivation. They have already
! planted model forests III the vicinity
of Seoul, Pyengyang and Taiku, and as
| soon as the nurseries aregin good shape
| viii extend the program to other parts
| of the country.
THE FARMS OF KOREA.
| To-day most Of the farms of Korea are
| confined to the valleys. The area be-
| ing cultivated is just about half that
I which IS titled in Japan, and II 1T were
as intensiyelyz fafmea It would be feed
ing %, 100000 people instead of less than
100000, as now am told that the
soil here is naturally much better than
that Of Japan, but I doubt IL the pro-
duct is one-fourth as large The farm
ers fertilze but little and they know
nothing OF artificial manures. During
a recent trip over the country saw
mon carrying manure from the villages
to- the fields on their backs, and far
tllel. on abullockS We're used for the plr-
pose, the stuff being loaded into bas-
kets OF straw rope which hung down
on each side of the animal.
Everywhere the methods of cultiYa-
tion were crude. The plows We're lit
tie more than forked sticks shod with
iron They are one handled affairs,
drawn by buIlocks, reminding one OF
the plows Of the Scriptures. Much OF
the country is hoed over by men and
women The clods are broken up with
mallets, which the people swing back
and forth as they walk through the
burrows. There is no machinery Of
any kind. The grain is all sowed by
nsIllu. II ~ tIlliSlleu Win lithilo. a iid
winnowed in the wind, the grain and
chaff being thrown high into the air.
The contrast between the country
scenes of Japan and Korea is striking.
Everything in the former country
shines with thrift. There is not weed
in the fields, the houses are neat and
well built ard the people clean and
rosy from the hot baths they take every
day. All farming here is done in the
most siovenly way. The methods of
taxation and squeezing have been SUCH
as 10 leave but little incentive to work.
and the bulk of the profits have gone to
the officials. The farmhouses are mem.
They are squalid huts OF mud and stone
With roofs of straw thatch tied on with
strings. They are collected together in
little villages which often nestle on the
sides of the hills. There are no trees
CT gardens about them, Every home is
surrounded by q mud wall high enough
to keep the men on the streets from
looking in at the girls.
The streets are winding alleys, Where
the garbage of the houses IS thrown out
to rot in the sun Sometimes bitches