AGRICULTURE OF JAPAN. ■ 83 



and barley were advancing toward muturity ; and upon our return thither, from Hakodadi, in 

 June, were being gathered or harvested. These crops are drilled, either upon level surfaces or 

 upon narrow beds, from four to six feet wide, to suit the soil as to moisture. When sown upon 

 beds, the drills appeared to be invariably across them instead of lengthwise. Besides the bottom- 

 lands being completely occupied by these crops, there were numerous patches or terraces upon 

 the sides of the hills, whose summits, too, were occasionally occupied by them. In the latter 

 places the soil is a red clay, but poor, and the crops thin — not producing more than from 6 to 10 

 bushels per acre. In the plains, even, the yield is not very large, being, on an average, not 

 beyond fifteen bushels. As to the produce of barley, I was not so well able to judge. The 

 wheat is of two kinds, the awned and the awnless, but both red. The barley is also of at least 

 two varieties — one, with a very short but very thick head (club-headed), and with short awns; 

 the other, with a long, rather slender head, and with long awns ; but both sorts are six-round. 

 I noticed oats, but not as a crop. They had sprung up here and there accidentally. 



Harvest-time seemed not to be a period of any unusual excitement or jubilee ; each occupier 

 having so small a portion as to be able to manage it readily by himself. There is no scythe 

 or cradle, unless the little blade with a handle, about one foot long, may be regarded as a 

 miniature scythe. It is not unlike a brier-hook, and with it the grain is reaped, close to the 

 ground, without a straw being missed. This is clone by men, and the straw is tied into bun- 

 dles. These are carried to the homestead, or to some convenient place in the field, arranged 

 for threshing out the grain. I saw this operation only once, and cannot answer for its being 

 general. Upon the side of a hill an excavation had been made in the solid but easily worked 

 rock, of about 7 feet by 10, and some 5 or 6 feet in depth. This room opened upon the face of 

 the hill by a door at one angle, and was covered by thatched roofing. At the inner end 

 there was a heavy beam of wood resting upon supports, with a brief space between it and the 

 wall. A young woman was beating the sheaves of wheat upon or over this beam, and the 

 grain was thus separated from the straw ; another woman brought the straw in, and passed the 

 straw out. Here the laborers were protected 'from the sun, and the grain from rain. As prim- 

 itive as this may appear, the winnowing process is equally so. Many persons, chiefly females, 

 were observed from the ship winnowing grain upon the beach, by pouring it from baskets held 

 above the head, and allowing the sea-breeze to blow the chaff away towards the land. Small 

 fanning-mills were also seen ; but these will be mentioned more particularly presently. Other 

 modes of separating grain from the straw are believed to exist, but I did not see the machinery 

 of one of these in motion. Was it something of a trip-flail ? 



Barley is hummelled by beaters and mortars, worked either by hand or by water, and also by 

 mills. The hand-machine is similar to the homony-beater of our native Indians ; the pestle, 

 however, being at right angles to the handle, instead of being in a direct line with it. The 

 water contrivance is a trip-hammer, like one used in our country for pounding corn, &c, for 

 feed for animals. In a shed, near a small stream, a beam of wood is suspended upon pivots 

 near its middle, with a pestle arranged at one end for working in a mortar, and the other end 

 is scooped into the form of a spoon. The water being turned upon this end, it descends so far 

 as to allow the water to escape, whereupon the pestle falls heavily into the mortar, and this 

 see-saw motion keeps up a continuous pounding. In the United States, a bucket is used with 

 a tipping bottom instead of the spoon-like cavity. The mills are in small houses, which are 

 divided into convenient compartments. The machinery is simple, and is worked by a large 

 undershot or breast- wheel. The axle of this extends into the house, and upon it are a series of 



