362 APPENDIX G. 



rice and cotton along with buckwheat and barley. Everywhere 

 on the chains of hills, which cover the whole country like an ir- 

 regular fine network, the pine predominates, stamping upon the 

 landscape that homely northern character, which affords so cheer- 

 ing a sight to the northern traveller, who reaches these shores after 

 having passed through the hot and luxuriant regions of the tropics. 

 In the valleys, on the other hand, the burning south holds sway, 

 covering the ground with a rich vegetation of rice, cotton, yams, 

 and sweet potatoes. Hundreds of footpaths and small ravines lead 

 to charming transitions between pine and cotton, hill and dale ; 

 everywhere there is a gay medley of laurels, myrtles, cypresses, 

 and above all, shining camellias. 



The land is of volcanic origin, and the entire surface belongs 

 to the tufa and the diluvium formation. The soil on the hills con- 

 sists of an extremely fine, yet not over fat brown clay ; whereas 

 that of the valleys is throughout the country, with some trifling 

 modifications, of a black, loose, and deep garden mould, which 

 upon trial in different places I found extended to a depth of 12 to 

 15 feet, being throughout of the same quality, though somewhat 

 more compact in the deeper layers. An impermeable stratum of 

 clay probably underlies this arable crust. As the clay strata of the 

 mountains, in consequence of the frequent and copious falls of rain, 

 give rise to a multitude of springs, which are everywhere at hand, 

 and may thus easily and without any great skill, be turned to ac- 

 count for the purpose of irrigation ; so the impermeability of the 

 stratum underlying the surface soil in the valleys enables the Jap- 

 anese husbandmen to turn the soil a^ pleasure into a swamp, for 

 the cultivation of rice. 



Whichever way one may feel inclined to decide the question, 

 whether the present fruitfulness of the soil is simply the artificial 

 product of cultivation continued for a period of several thousand 

 years, or whether this fertility existed from the beginning, making 

 this people love and cherish the labours of agriculture, this much 

 must be granted, at all events, that the clay of the diluvium, the 

 mild climate, and abundance of water, afforded all the conditions, 

 and the most convenient means, for a thriving cultivation. All 

 these advantages have been most carefully turned to account by 

 an industrious, ingenious, and sober people ; and husbandry in 

 Japan has become a truly national occupation. The Japanese 

 have thoroughly mastered the difficult task of maintaining agricul- 

 ture in a state of the highest perfection, although its pursuit is en- 

 tirely in the hands of peasants and yeomen, who take rank in the 

 sixth and last but one class of the social scale, and no Japanese 

 gentleman is a farmer. There are no agricultural institutions for 

 instruction in husbandry, no agricultural societies, no academies, 

 no periodical press to spread the teachings of science. The son 

 simply learns from the father ; and as the father knows quite as 

 much as his grandfather and great grandfather before him, so he 



