94 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1898. 



pie. When a child was born who was the true emperor of 

 Japan he was allowed to hold the office but always under the 

 control of this Shogun. And when the young man came to 

 years of discretion he was compelled to take upon himself relig- 

 ious orders and become a monk. So the empire passed on to 

 the next in rank and the real emperor was never actually ruler. 

 Until forty years ago he was not allowed to come into power 

 and the nation was really governed by the soldier class. They 

 had a feudal system and the tyrants ruled, the stronger tyrants 

 over-ruling the other tyrants, and making them pay tribute. 



Here is a man riding on his little Japanese pony. The ser- 

 vant is at the head of the horse with a bundle of rice on his 

 back. The man is going on a pilgrimage. It is a peculiar 

 custom of the Japanese of the lower class to go on pilgrimages 

 to visit great mountains or shrines, and you will see parties of a 

 dozen or fifteen of them going on foot to visit one of these 

 shrines and pay their vows to their deities, and to pray for good 

 harvests and so forth. 



Here is a Japanese dressed in his rain cloak. It is made of 

 rice straw which will shed the rain perfectly, and the hat on his 

 head will keep off either rain or sunshine. Here is a Japanese 

 at work in the field with a hurra or bog hoe. It is a very rough 

 implement but it is the implement with which the thousands and 

 thousands of acres of Japan are cultivated. The men will 

 work for a while and then stop for a lunch. They have to eat 

 four or five times a day. Here is a field of rice. Rice is the 

 chief product and the Japanese grow the very best in the world. 

 These farmers alternate between smoking, lunching, and work- 

 ing. If a neighbor comes along they have plenty of time to 

 talk with him. 



Plere is a Japanese woman going to market. She has her 

 basket filled with cabbages, which she is carrying to special 

 customers. Her basketful is worth two or three cents. She 

 has to carry it a mile or two and sometimes back again, and 

 then comes back the next day with another load. 



The '■'daikon,'' a kind of turnip radish, is the favorite vege- 

 table of the Japanese. One way of preparing it is to pickle it 



