Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 157 



elephants are also very dangerous; apes are found in these forests, and some of ihem of 

 large size : these and the parrots are not a little destructive to the rice and fruits. 

 The Tonquin plough consists of three pieces of wood, a pole, a handle, and a third 

 piece, almost at right angles with the last, for opening the ground ; and they are siraply 

 fixed with straps of leather : this plough is drawn by oxen or buffaloes. 



946. The agriculture of Japan is superior to that of most eastern countries. 



947. The climate of Japan is variable. In summer the heat is violent ; and, if it 

 were not moderated by sea breezes, would be intolerable. The cold in winter is severe. 

 The falls of rain commence at midsummer, and to these Japan owes its fertility, an^ 

 also its high state of population. Thunder is not unfrequent : tempests, hurricanes, 

 and earthquakes are very common. From Thunberg's thermometrical observations it 

 appears that the greatest degree of heat at Negasaki was 98 in August, and the severest 

 cold in January, 35". The face of the country presents some extensive plains, but 

 more generally mountains, hills, and valleys ; tlie coast being mostly rocky and pre- 

 cipitous, and invested with a turbulent sea. It is also diversified with rivers and 

 rivulets, and many species of vegetables. 



948. The soil of Japan, though barren, is rendered productive by fertilizing showers 

 and manure, and by the operation of agricultural industry. 



949. Agriculture, Thunberg informs us, is here well understood, and the whole country, 

 even to the tops of the hills, is cultivated. Free from all feudal and ecclesiastical im- 

 pediments, the farmer applies himself to the culture of the soil with diligence and vigour. 

 Here are no commons ; and it is a singular circumstance, that if any portion be left 

 uncultivated, it may be seized by a more industrious neighbor. The Japanese mode 

 of manuring is to form a mixture of all kinds of excrements, with kitchen refuse, which 

 is carried in pails into the field, and poured with a ladle upon the plants, when they 

 have attained the height of about six inches ; so that they thus instantly receive the whole 

 benefit. They are also very attentive to weeding. The sides of the hills are culti- 

 vated by means of stone walls, supporting broad plats, sown with rice or esculent roots. 

 Rice is the chief grain ; buckwheat, rye, barley, and wheat being little used. A kind 

 of root, used as the potatoe (^Convolvulus edulis), is abundant, with several sorts of 

 beans, pease, turnips, cabbages, &c. From the seed of a kind of cabbage, lamp oil is 

 expressed ; and several plants are cultivated for dyeing ; with the cotton shrubs and 

 mulberry- trees for the food of silkworms. The varnish and camphor trees, the vine, 

 the cedar, the tea tree, and the bamboo reed, not only grow wild, but are planted for 

 numerous uses. 



950. In respect to live stock, there are neither sheep nor goats in the whole empire of 

 Japan; and, in general, there are but few quadrupeds. The food of the Japanese con- 

 sists almost entirely of fish and fowl, with vegetables. Some few dogs are kept from 

 motives of superstition ; and cats are favorites of tlie ladies. Hens and common 

 ducks are domesticated for the sake of their eggs. 



SuBSECT. 8. Present Stale of Agriculture in the Chinese Empire, 



951. Agricultural im,provement in China has, in all ages, been encouraged and 

 honored. The husbandman is considered an honorable as well as a useful member of 

 society ; he ranks next to men of letters or officers of state, of whom he is frequently 

 the progenitor. The soldier, in China, cultivates the ground. The priests also are 

 agriculturists, whenever their convents are endowed with land. Notwithstanding all 

 these advantages, however, tlie Chinese empire is by no means so generally cultivated 

 as Du Halde and other early travellers asserted. Some districts are almost entirely 

 under cultivation ; but in many there are extensive wastes. 



952. Dr. Abel is of opinion that that part of China passed through by Lord Amherst's 

 embassy, the land " very feebly productive in food for man, fully equalled that which 

 afforded it in abundant quantity." He never found extensive tracts of land in general 

 cultivation, but often great industry and ingenuity on small spots; and concludes that 

 ** as horticulturists the Chinese may perhaps be allowed a considerable share of merit ; 

 but on the great scale of agriculture, they are not to be mentioned with any European 

 nations." [Narrative, ^c. 127.) 



953. Barrow says, few families cultivate more than is sufficient for their own use ; 

 that there are no teams, or dairies ; that they are ignorant of the art of fatting cattle ; 

 and of the art of forming rotations of crops ; that their implements are barbarous ; and 

 in short, that their agriculture, much as it has been vaunted by the Jesuits and some 

 French philosophers, would be despised in Europe. 



954. Livingstone, an intelligent resident in China, observes, " The statement in the 

 Encyclopcedia Britannica, that * Chinese agriculture is distinguished and encouraged 

 by the court beyond all other sciences,' is incorrect, since it is unquestionably sub- 

 ordinate to literature ; and it may be well doubted whether it ought to be considered 

 as holding among the Chinese the rank of a science ; for, independently of that routine 



