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tainty that the system will but very rarely make 

 any progress with us. We cannot learn to swim 

 without going into the water. 



The introduction and improvement of the system 

 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 also have long been fami- 

 liar. Among the favorable features presented by 

 the cultivation of root- crops, our agricultural books 

 always place in a prominent position the fact that 

 it enables the farmer to deepen the arable soil of 

 his land. All our gardeners, at least, have adopted 

 it long ago. 



I was not fully aware of the true importance 

 of growing crops in drills until I saw 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 husban- 

 dry ; we look upon the question still in a very 

 one-sided way only in reference to the particular 

 crop which we wish to grow. But the Japanese 

 farmer has raised it to the rank of a system, by 

 which he has fully relieved himself of the slightest 

 necessity of regarding, as we are compelled to do, 

 the rotation of crops. By its means he has practi- 

 cally become master of his land. He has not only 

 succeeded in growing crops at one and the same 



