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proceeds to fill part also of the vacant rows, which 

 thus leaves only the third or fourth part of the 

 field fallow, until ultimately every row is planted. 



How wide the difference between this system and 

 ours ! When we break up and till a plot of ground, 

 we begin by extracting from it three or four 

 harvests, without bestowing a particle of manure, 

 but apply it only when we find the soil exhausted. 

 The Japanese husbandman never breaks up a plot 

 of land unless he possesses a small stock of 

 manure that he can invest in the ground ; and 

 even then he cultivates the new plot to the extent 

 only that his supply of manure will permit. This 

 rational proceeding shows the deepest insight into 

 the nature of the system of agriculture to be 

 pursued with a reasonable prospect of securing a 

 constant succession of remunerative crops. No 

 other illustration ean so clearly show the difference 

 between our European way of viewing the matter, 

 and the Japanese. 



We in Europe cut down the trees on a forest 

 plot, sell the timber, grub up, plough, and till the 

 ground, and then proceed to dispose of the pro- 

 ductive power of the new soil in three cereal crops 

 obtained without the least supply of manure ; or 

 we may possibly assist in accelerating the ex- 

 haustion of the ground by a small dose of guano. 

 All that this course of proceeding is calculated to 



