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never breaks over. Even the railroad crosses the flood-plain, 

 if such it can be called, without any embankment, climbs a 

 grade to the bridge, and drops off again at the other end. But 

 these dikes are not made of alluvial mud, like those along the 

 Mississippi River, but of stone, and several centuries of experience 

 have evidently taught just how high it is necessary to make them. 



The view of Japanese agriculture from the train window is 

 most interesting. After the twelve-hour ride, three impressions 

 stand out at once above all others: the limited amount of agri- 

 cultural land available, the closeness of its cultivation, and its 

 wonderful fertility. 



The railway naturally follows the easiest route, thereby crossing 

 the most extensive areas of flat land and avoiding the mountains 

 as much as possible. Still, hills too high or too steep for cultiva- 

 tion are in view from the track every mile of the way, and in 

 rnost places they rise to genuine mountains, cutting off com- 

 pletely the view to the north. The arable land borders the 

 rivers, occupies the narrow coastal plain, when there is any, 

 and extends up the narrow intermontane valleys. In places 

 the cultivated strip appears to be ten miles wide, but it averages 

 much narrower, and there seems to be an interminable area of 

 mountains behind it. 



Of this arable land, a wonderfully large proportion is in 

 cultivation. The railroad, of course, cuts a strip through it, 

 but there is no marginal right of way, as in America. The villages 

 and lanes take up space, but nothing is wasted on dooryards in 

 the former, or on width in the latter. The lanes are seldom more 

 than six feet wide, usually less, and the fields come right to the 

 beaten track, without any fence or hedge. In the villages, there 

 is a fence around most houses, or between them, and usually a 

 row of trees along the lanes. Sometimes there is a hedge, but 

 it is composed of a mixture of species, and apparently has its 

 own economic value. There are many small groves, seldom 

 more than a city lot in size, surrounding the Shinto shrines or 

 sometimes around the small cemeteries. There are numerous 

 small ponds, but these are usually planted to lotus, and, whether 

 planted or not, are used for carp cultivation. The sides of the 



