JAPAN. 



417 



cent, is cultivated. Eleven thousand five hun- 

 dred and 1 wenty-three m res of rice and other 

 arable lands are now under cultivation, the total 

 product of ;! crops rice, rye, wheat in 1891 be- 

 ing 90,891,805 bushels, averaging '21 bushels to 

 the acre. Mulberry plantations for the food of 

 silkworms cover 617 acres. Most of the fertile 

 land is in valleys, but there are vast spaces of 

 forest, mountainous, or poorly productive land, 

 though famines are now preventable on account 

 of railways and improved transportation by land 

 und sea. On account of the silicious bamboo 

 which covers densely much of the lund otherwise 

 utilizable as pasture, sheep can not be profitably 

 reared. The area belonging to the state and cov- 

 eivd l>y forests, groves, and wild buinboo amounts 

 to 2,()18 acres, but a steady decrease of the area 

 of infertile and increase of reclaimed or fertile 

 land is noticed as compared with previous years. 

 Tin 1 total number of horses is 1,546,868, and of 

 cattle is 1,044,976, which, considering the great 

 development of railways and new articles of food, 

 is a relative as well as actual increase over for- 

 mer years. Of tea, 55,723,352 pounds were grown 

 in 1*90. In the saM manufacture 14,752 distil- 

 leries and breweries produced of the various al- 

 coholic beverages made from rice 63,456,500 gal- 

 lons, while 948,565 persons brewed sake for do- 

 mestic use. Of soy, the increased production of 

 23,160,040 gallons, as compared with little over 

 half that amount in 1885, we note that there is a 

 European demand, the condiment being now 

 well known either in a pure state or as the basis 

 of widely advertised sauces with local European 

 names. The output of pottery and porcelain for 

 1890 was valued at yen 2,882,508, and of pipes 

 yen 1.504,560. During the year 1891, 367 patents 

 were issued, 117 models deposited, and 554 trade- 

 marks registered. 



To meet the modern conditions of business 

 there are now in Japan more than 50 chambers 

 of commerce, 2,013 trades unions organized by 

 those who pursue the same trade in the whole 

 empire, 13 rice exchanges, 3 stock and 3 general 

 exchanges, and 1,916 markets at which daily, 

 monthly, or several times a year, buyers and sell- 

 ers gather from various places for the purchase 

 and sale, according to the old methods, of prod- 

 ucts, fabrics, and new or second-hand articles of 

 all sorts. The 134 national banks of the coun- 

 try have a paid-up capital of yen 48,701,100. 

 The Bank of Japan, with its paid-up capital of 

 yen 10,000,000, gives stability and equilibrium 

 to the system, and is the organ of the Govern- 

 ment's financial administrations. Private banks 

 number 252. with a paid-up capital of yen 19,- 

 796,000. Semibanking corporations numbering 

 678 have a capital of yen 13,827,000. Of joint- 

 stock companies for commercial purposes there 

 are 2,631 with capital aggregating yen 182,137,- 

 828; of these, 315 are agricultural, 1,296 com- 

 mercial, and 1,020 industrial. Instead of the old 

 system of isolated and individual workshops the 

 tendency is to associated labor and the concen- 

 tration of capital in large manufactories, with 

 the accessories of steam and other engines. Com- 

 panies and individuals now own 2,489 factories, 

 of which 739 have steam engines (1,519 engines 

 with 28.500 horse power) and 4(54 with hydraulic 

 engines (1,283 engines of 4,772 horse power), tin- 

 capital invested being yen 70,734,764. The pro- 

 VOL. xxxin. 27 A 



duction and manufacture of silk occupies the first 

 Importance, after which follow, in relative impor- 

 taiice. weaving, mining, refining of metal*, und 

 the preparation of rice, tobacco./atenc, wa 

 bricks, and cotton. Besides 5 (ioveniiin-nt tech- 

 nical schools of navigation, industry, fine art-, 

 posts and telegraph, there are numerous school* 

 in the commercial cities which further the. prog- 

 ress of commerce and industry. Of the 767 seri- 

 al publications, 167 are devoted to agriculture, 

 commerce, and industry, and 170 to science. 

 Besides the great educational and special muse- 

 ums in the cities of Kioto, Tokio, ami Nara, there 

 are in the various prefectures 36 industrial mu- 

 seums. Of the 1,864 miles of railway in 1893 

 the Government owns 551 and private corpora- 

 tions own 1,313 miles, in all of which, to Sept :;o. 

 1892, yen 78,303,127 had been invested, and on 

 which in one year 25,790,302 persons traveled. 

 Other traffic and travel on wheels was done by 

 31,965 horse vehicles, 178,041 jinrikixhas, 11,027 

 ox carts, and 763.056 handcarts. 



Salt-Making, Fisheries*, and Navigation. 

 A maritime population, numbering 865,189 

 active fishermen, living in 865,829 houses, with 

 277,698 boats or junks, produced in 1890 dried 

 and salt fish, seaweed, and other marine prod- 

 ucts to the value of yen 10,257.134: sardines, 

 dried or in oil, 323.548,790 pounds; besides 

 7.950,570 pounds fish oil. Salt meadows, or sea- 

 shore tracks of sand which are sprinkled with 

 sea water the bed being leached after evapora- 

 tion, and the brine boiled down produced 24,- 

 331,700 bushels of salt. The salt beds covered 

 19,088 acres, and there were 17,595 furnaces for 

 reducing the brine. Transportation by sea is 

 now carried on by 607 steamers, of 95,588 tons 

 burden and 21,167 horse power, the sailing ships 

 built in European style numbering 835, of 50.- 

 137 tons burden, commanded by 1,366 Japanese 

 and 138 foreign captains, and manned by 7,502 

 natives. To these are to be added 18.701 junks, 

 with a tonnage amounting to 3,167,096, and 

 617,618 small boats. Sixty-eight national light- 

 houses and lightships guard the coast, while 77 

 similar aids to navigation are maintained by 

 local authority or enterprise. In 1891 46 \ 

 of foreign and 800 of native model were lost or 

 damaged on the coasts or at sea, causing over 

 622 deaths. 



Organized Charity. Japan has sent hun- 

 dreds of special missions to Europe and Ameri- 

 ca to study administrative affairs, jurisprudence, 

 und the various arts and sciences calculated to 

 develop material civilization ; but study of for- 

 eign methods of public benevolence has thus far 

 and rarely been prosecuted by private individu- 

 als. Rich noMes and merchants have also gen- 

 erously contributed to literary, educational, and 

 scientific objects, but it is rarely that private 

 munificence founds hospitals, homes, asylums for 

 the sick.nged. or needy. Little work of this sort 

 is done by either Shinto or Buddhist temples. 

 What lias been done in benevolent enterprise 

 by the Christian missionaries has been, on ac- 

 count of slender resources, rather by way of 

 stimulating example. The initiation of public 

 charity has been encouraged by their Majesties 

 the tfmperor and Empress, who have fT'*' ' 1 

 handsomely from their private purse. Three 

 imperial ordinances have called attention to the 



