36 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



Some important representatives of this last group, as oil-seeds, 

 flax, hemp, and tobacco, flourish in Japan, and even in Yezo, most 

 excellently. It will therefore be necessary, in the extension and 

 rational pursuit of agriculture, to pay particular attention to their 

 cultivation. In grain-culture the introduction of better seed in 

 place of the ordinary sort is demanded for wheat and barley, since 

 these have decidedly degenerated in the course of time, bearing 

 lighter kernels and producing smaller crops than with us. They 

 are of less importance in Japanese household economy than rice, 

 and hence the same attention has not been paid to them. 



Rice, leguminous plants, fish, and eggs have always played the 

 chief part in the food of Japan, in which combination the rice, so 

 rich in starch, is sufficiently complemented by the amount of 

 protein in the others. But in mountainous regions it has been 

 largely replaced by the various sorts of millet. In this relationship 

 modern times have brought about no appreciable change. 



The Japanese, like his neighbour to the westward, first became 

 acquainted with bread and similar baked foods through the Portu- 

 guese. From them too he adopted the names Pan and Kasutera 

 (pronounced Kastera, that is, Castilla), by which is designated a 

 spongy, safl*ron-yellow cake. He remained, however, true to his 

 old way of living, and did not imitate the bread at all, and the cake 

 only in rare cases, so that even now a foreigner travelling in the 

 interior of the country must provide himself with bread or some 

 substitute for it, unless he can and will accommodate himself to the 

 Japanese fashion, and be satisfied with rice and grits. 



Of the various more or less extensive catalogues of cultivated 

 and useful Japanese plants, the following are known to me and 

 were made use of in preparing the divisions of my subject which 

 come next : — 



1. Kaempfer: "Amoen. exot," pp. 766-912. Lemgo, 1712. 



2. Thunberg : " Flora Japonica.'\ Leipzig, 1784. 



3. Thunberg : " Resa 4. delen. Akerbruket," pp. 76-92. Up- 

 sala, 1793. 



4. Von. Siebold : " Synopsis Plantarum CEconomicarum Universi 

 Regni Japonici," in " Verhandelingen van het Bataviasch Genoot- 

 schap," XII. deel. Bat, 1830. 



5. Scherzer : " Fachmannische Berichte liber die osterr.-ungar. 

 Expedition nach Siam, China und Japan." Stuttgart, 1872. pp. 

 175-220. 



6. Kinch : " List of Plants used for Food, etc., in Japan. Trans- 

 act. Asiat. Soc. Japan." Vol. xi., pp. 1-3 1. Yokohama, 1883. 



7. Dupont: " Essences Forestieres du Japan." Paris, 1880. 



8. Reports on various Universal Exhibitions. 



In order to make the subject clear, and to accompany the 

 several names of plants with such remarks as suit the measure 

 of their importance, I have decided to adopt a plan of my own in 



