JAPANESE IIUSBAKDRY. 399 



plished iu so sliort a time is a proof of the rjreat depth of the 

 loose arable soil, even after a harvest; aud that the farmer 

 could venture to do so without troubling himself about the 

 next crop, is a sign of the aboiuiduig ivealtk of the soil in 

 mineral constituents. It is only when great depth of the loose 

 arable soil is combined with a plentiful store of mineral con- 

 stituents that deep tillage of the ground can truly be resorted 

 to. The description here given is not a mere fiction or creation 

 of the imagination, but a faithful statement of facts such as I 

 have had occasion to witness by the hundred. Considering that 

 rice requires at least from 1 to 1^ feet of cultivated soil, and 

 adding to this half the height of the raised bed, viz. 1 to l-i- feet, 

 this gives a cultivated depth of arable soil of from 2 to 3 feet. 



This system of working the land at pleasure either as a 

 raised dry plot or as a swamp, is indeed, at present, in Japan, 

 simply a proof of the existence of deep tillage ; but it is clearly 

 evident that it must have been, at one time, also, the means of 

 effecting it. If we are always to wait until we have collected a 

 sufficient excess of manure (at the best but a very relative 

 term), before proceeding to deepen the arable crust of our land, 

 we may certainly predict that the system will but very rarely 

 make any progress with us. Everybody knows that one cannot 

 learn to swim without going into the water. 



The introduction and constant progress of the sj'^stem of deep 

 tillage has been powerfully assisted in Japan by the practice 

 pursued from time immemorial of growing all crops in drills. 

 With the advantage of this method we have also long been 

 familiar. Among the favourable features presented by the 

 cultivation of root crops, our books of agriculture always place 

 in a prominent rank the fact that it enables the farmer to 

 deepen the arable soil of his land. All our gardeners, at least, 

 have long ago adopted it. 



I was not fully aware of the true importance of the method 

 of gro^ving crops in drills, until I had occasion to see it carried 

 out to the fullest extent in Japan. We, in Europe, are as yet 

 far from having adopted this plan as an essential part of our 

 system of husbandry ; we look upon the question still in a very 

 one-sided jjoint of view, only in reference to the individual 

 ci'op which we wish to grow. But the Japanese farmer has 



