LAND TRACTS, JAPAN. 



15 



which it was pmotic-ally impossible to socuro. This was prooiscly 

 the situation of the hinds bek)no-in«- to tho yeomanry of Enjihind until 

 about the connnencement of tho Nineteenth century. Three years 

 since a hiw was passed by the Japanese Parliament that if two-thirds 

 of the owners of a tract of land agreed to reform the l)oundaries the 

 minority must concur. Still the farmers of Japan were conservative, 

 and only two or three provinces have made any considerable progress. 

 The accompanying diagrams i)resent a striking example of the land 

 situation and the reform accomplished in one locality. 



Fig. 1.— Tract of land at Masuda, containing 25 acres, divided into 409 irregular fields. 





Fig. 2.— The same tract shown in fig. 1, redivided into 138 regular fields. 



Fig. 1 is a plat of a tract of land at Masuda village, near Sendai, and 

 shows the little fields as they have been for ages. Fig. 2 is of the same 

 tract readjusted under the reform movement. Mr. J. H. De Forest, 

 of Sendai, who furnished the maps from which these illustrations were 

 made, states that this tract as platted contains only 25 acres and for- 

 merly had 409 irregular fields in it. (See fig. 1.) There are now 

 (see tig. 2) only 138 regular fields, with perfectly straight water 

 courses and roads wide enough for two loaded carts to pass. Even 



