COST OF RAISING KICK FARM LIFE IN JAl'AN. li) 



INCOME. 



Fliilled rice, 8 kokn, or about 2,520 pountl3, equivalent to 3,272 pounds of 



paddy or 20! barrels $48. 00 



Straw, 480 kwan, or about 2 tons 4. 80 



Chaff and l^roken rice 1 . 20 



54. 00 



Case 2. — Where the land is rented to a tenant, supposing the crops to be the same, 

 the account would stand as. follows: 



Seed for 1 acre $0. f52 



Manure 10. 00 



Labor, 120 days, at 15 cents per day 18. 00 



Repairing tools 1. 20 



Rent, one-half the crop, or 1,260 pounds 24. 00 



Total expenses of tenant 53. 82 



Total i)roht : 18 



54. 00 

 Total income, $54, as above. 



The foregoing statement, taken from tlie account book of a practical 

 Japanese farmer, is full of interest and tlirows some side lights on 

 their agricultural S3stem. 



The small amount of seed used is due to transplanting. Consider- 

 able expense is incurred for manure, but a crop of 20| barrels per 

 acre is large for old land. One is chiefly impressed b}^ the number of 

 days' work, one hundred and twenty, expended on 1 acre, and the 

 amount of the Govermnent taxes, §8. Eight hundred dollars taxes on 

 a hundred acres of rice would stagger the American farmer. Where 

 the tenant does the farming it will be noted that one-half of the grain 

 produced is allowed for the use of the land and that there is no real 

 profit. He simply receives pay for his labor. 



FARM LIFE. 



How the Japanese farmers live can best be understood by giving a 

 description of some particular farmhouse. While visiting the distin- 

 guished statesman, K. Mochizuki, at his country estate, a visit to the 

 dwellings of some of his tenants was made. The following is a 

 description of an average farmhouse on this estate: 



In the rear of the house was a garden of about half an acre, planted 

 to field crops, beans, barley, etc., and in front was a garden of aljout 

 one-fourth of an acre, artistically laid out and planted to vegetables, 

 with occasional flowers. The main building was one story high, about 

 24 by 48 feet in size, wath the kitchen, 14 by 24 feet, across one end. 

 Here was the usual clay stove, similar to those of Mexico, and a dirt 

 floor, which by some process had been made as hard as cement. The 

 remainder of the house was floored with mats. The family stores 

 were packed in tubs, of which there were a dozen or more stacked at 

 one side of the kitchen, all scoured to appear as if just brought from 



