THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 105 



the most useful products of our temperate zone and some 

 of the most remarkable tropical plants. We have not tra- 

 velled far before we arrive at the conclusion that the dense 

 and self-supporting population of Japan know how to make 

 the most of every inch of ground. As we raise our eyes to 

 the tops of the mountains and the heights of the hills, 

 which in other countries would lie wholly neglected, we see 

 that even in situations like these the land is all brought 

 into cultivation; and as it is impossible to plough with 

 oxen (which are employed on the flat, low ground), the 

 ploughing on the hills and mountain-sides is done by men. 

 The crops which cover this steep and high ground con- 

 sist of Corn, Rice, Peas, and other kinds of pulse, and 

 numberless other eatable plants; on the level ground we 

 see scarcely any meadows and pasture-ground, but crops of 

 the same kind as those on the hills. As rice is the main 

 food of the natives, rice-fields everywhere meet our eyes, 

 particularly in low, flat situations, the land being cut through 

 by canals, to supply the wants of this water-loving plant : 

 the best rice grows in the northern provinces, and is said to 

 be superior to any in Asia. Everywhere round the edges 

 of the rice- and cornfields, and in places where nothing else 

 would grow we see the Tea-shrub. It is however only in 

 the southern parts of the Japanese empire that the growing 



