JAPANESE HUSBANDRY. 365 



sufficiently large to preclude the notion of working them by hand, 

 even leaving out of consideration the important circumstance that 

 the price of labour is rather too high, in proportion to the value of 

 the produce, to admit of such a system of farming. But that the 

 culture of the soil is everywhere in the world in direct ratio to the 

 division of the land is a well-established fact, of which the reality 

 and significance are made most clearly apparent to the traveller 

 who passes from the north of Germany to Japan, via England. 



The only manure-producer, therefore, in Japan is man; and 

 we need not wonder that the greatest care should be bestowed in 

 that country upon the gathering, preparing, and applying his ex- 

 crements. Now, as their entire course of proceeding contains 

 much that is highly instructive for us, I consider it my duty to 

 give as detailed a description of it as possible, even at the risk of 

 offending the delicate feelings of the reader. 



The Japanese does not construct his privy as we do in Ger- 

 many, in some remote corner of the yard, with half- open rear, 

 giving free admission to wind and rain ; but he makes it an essen- 

 tial part of the interior of his dwelling. As he ignores altogether 

 the notion of a ' seat,' the cabinet, which, as a general rule, is very 

 clean, neat, and, in many cases, nicely papered or painted and var- 

 nished, has a simple hole of the shape of an oblong square running 

 across and opposite to the entrance door, and serving to convey the 

 excrements into the lower space. Squatting over this hole, with 

 his legs astride, the Japanese satisfies the call of nature with the 

 greatest cleanliness. I never saw a dirty cabinet in Japan, even in 

 the dwelling of the very poorest peasant. It appears to me that 

 there is something very practical in this form of construction of a 

 closet. We, in Germany, construct privies over our dung-holes, 

 and behind our barns, for the use of our farm-servants and labour- 

 ers, and provide them with seats with round holes. With even 

 only one aperture, it is too often found that after a few days' use 

 they look more like pigstyes than closets for the use of man, and 

 this simply because our labourers have a decided, perhaps natural, 

 predilection for squatting. The construction of the Japanese privies 

 shows how easy it would be to satisfy this predilection. 



To receive the excrements, there is placed below the square 

 hole a bucket or tub, of a size corresponding to it, with projecting 

 ears, through which a pole can be passed to carry the vessel. In 

 many instances a large earthen pot, with handles, is used, for the 

 manufacture of which the Japanese clay supplies an excellent mate- 

 rial. In some rare instances in the towns, I found a layer of chop- 

 ped straw or chaff at the bottom of the vessel, and occasionally 

 also interspersed among the excrements, a proceeding which, if I 

 mistake not, has of late been recommended also in Germany. As 

 soon as the vessel is full, it is taken out and emptied into one of 

 the large dung- vessels. These are placed either in the yard or 

 in the field. They are large casks or enormous stoneware jars, in 



