420 



JAPAN. 



Americans, by tact, study, and patience, may 

 yet overcome the conservatism of the Japanese 

 inaka, though the cheapness of labor in Japan 

 renders competition difficult and successful in- 

 novation very slow. The State Department has 

 recently instructed its agents to gather infor- 

 mation on the subject, and the illustrations used 

 in this article were furnished by the United 

 States consul at Hiogo, T. McF. Patten. 



Almost all the improved farm-land in Japan 

 has reached its present condition after fifty 

 generations of human toil with spade and mat- 

 tock. Most of it lies in valleys, and is irrigated 

 with immense labor. Fertility increases in pro- 

 portion to nearness of, and diminishes in the 

 ratio of distance from cities, as the chief if not 

 the only manure in use is human excrement. 

 As it is economized by various expedients with 

 painful anxiety, and used in the crude state, a 

 common intestinal trouble among the natives 

 is tape- worm. Very little hard land is utilized, 

 and most of the work of the cultivator is in 

 liquid mud. Kice-land is five times more val- 

 uable than arable land. Spade-husbandry is 

 the main feature of farming, and in this the 

 Japanese can be taught little. His tool, made 

 of iron, wood, and rope, is chiefly made by hand . 

 Mattocks are likewise of timber and metal. 

 After these, in order, come the plows, made of 

 wood and shod with iron, and drawn either by 

 human or bovine power. They cost from eigh- 

 ty cents to two dollars each. Nine out of ten 

 " fields " in Japan are little squares a few yards 



across, separated from one another by slightly 

 raised mud-banks, and communicating by an 

 opening a foot wide for the water to flow 

 through. Pulverizers and rollers are usually 

 of wood, the spikes or cutters sometimes being 

 of iron. Kakes are of wood, and the joren, or 

 scoop, takes the place of our shovel, the user 

 pulling it toward him, instead of pushing as 

 with us. Planting and harvesting are done by 

 hand, each stalk or bunch, whether as sprout 

 for transplanting or as ripened stock, being 

 seized by the hand. Hatcheling, winnowing, 

 grinding, and pounding are still performed in 

 the primitive way begun millenniums ago. Irri- 

 gation is carried on by terracing mountain gul- 

 lies or valleys in which a stream flows. When 

 the field is higher than the stream, the tread- 

 wheel by a single person, or the dipping-bucket 

 slung by a pair, forms the usual apparatus. The 

 present Lilliputian methods must be revolution- 

 ized, and the native bill of fare lengthened, be- 

 fore American tools are in demand. Male field- 

 hands work twelve hours a day, have five holi- 

 days in each month, and receive their food, 

 lodging, and wages ranging from 10 to 15 yen 

 per annum ($8.60 to $12.90). Female laborers 

 work the same hours, are not entitled to holi- 

 days, and receive, besides their food and lodg- 

 ing, about 7 yen ($6) per annum. Manure 

 costs about twelve dollars an acre. 



Commerce. The following is a synoptic table 

 of the foreign trade movement of Japan during 

 1883 : 



IMPORTS. 



EXPORTS. 



