SC I E N C E -Supplement. 



FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1886. 



THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES OF 

 JAPAN. 



It was not many years ago that Japan was 

 looked upon as an uncivilized nation, and her re- 

 markable development during the past two decades 

 has been a subject of astonishment to the civil- 

 ized world. It speaks well for the natural intel- 

 ligence of her people that she has profited so well 

 by the experiences of foreign civilization, and 

 much can be expected in her future progress. 

 Many conditions productive of evil in civilization 

 have not yet found a place in her affairs, and in 

 some respects the lower classes may be con- 

 sidered as occupying a higher plane than those of 

 more favored European countries. 



A recent paper 1 by Prof. M. Fesca, with the as- 

 sistance of Mr. N.Tsuneto, presents one of the full- 

 est accounts of the agricultural conditions and in- 

 dustries of this people that have so far appeared, 

 from which we give an abstract of the more in- 

 teresting portions. «* 



Many important factors affecting the agriculture 

 of Japan, as would naturally be supposed, have 

 yet received comparatively little attention, al- 

 though the results so far attained are surprising 

 when we take into consideration the rapidity with 

 which they have been produced. Especially is 

 there need of a more scientific study of the cli- 

 mate and meteorological conditions. Most of the 

 meteorological stations hitherto founded are along 

 the seacoast, with but very few in the interior. 



One of the chief hinderances to the develop- 

 ment of Japanese agriculture has been the bur- 

 densome system of taxation, which is levied almost 

 exclusively upon real estate, and which prevents 

 the use of capital to any great extent. The high 

 rate of interest, of which fifteen per cent is con- 

 sidered moderate, for money loaned upon real 

 estate, almost prohibits its use. In those districts 

 where agriculture has reached its chief develop- 

 ment, it has been due almost wholly to unaided 

 manual labor. 



Agriculture can only reach its highest develop- 

 ment when the producer owns the land, and 

 especially when capital is unrestricted in its em- 



1 Die landwirthschaftlichen verhaltnisse der Kai-pro- 

 vinz in beziehung zu denen des japanischen reichs, Mit- 

 theilungen der agronomischen abtheilung der kaiserlich 

 japanischen geologischen reichsanstalt, April, 1886. 



ployment for its improvement or cultivation. 

 Statistics, so far as they are available, however, 

 show that lease systems, wherein compensation is 

 derived either by division of crops or from money 

 payments, predominate over independent tenures 

 of land in Japan. In the dryer lands money-rent 

 is usually paid, varying in amounts for the differ- 

 ent crops raised. For rice-land the so-called ' half- 

 crop ' system is the more common one, though in 

 reality a far larger proportion of the gross har- 

 vest returns is paid. Four-fifths of the crop go to 

 the owner of the land ; and, from the one-fifth 

 remaining, all the costs of fertilizing and harvest- 

 ing must be obtained, and which not seldom con- 

 sume its substance. The remedy for these evils 

 will only be found in the legal control of the lease 

 systems, and more especially by a change in the 

 system of taxation, which will relieve the land 

 from the severe burdens now imposed upon it, 

 and thus bring about more favorable systems of 

 credit, admitting of the more extensive use of 

 capital. At present the lessee of small farms 

 derives only a very meagre income. 



Another important factor which exerts a most 

 depressing influence upon Japanese agriculture, is 

 the difficulty and cost of transportation. The 

 lack of water-ways, railways, and good roads in 

 Japan is very sensibly felt. The pack-horse is the 

 means upon which the chief reliance is placed for 

 carrying ; and upon the best roads the burden of 

 three hundred and thirty pounds costs ten sen 1 

 per ri, while upon bad roads the cost may be 

 quadrupled. This high cost of transportation in- 

 fluences in a very great degree the sale of farm 

 produce. Rice commands the highest price 

 among the grains, in Tokio the past year selling 

 for one dollar per hundredweight. The cost of its 

 transportation for twenty miles amounts to as 

 much as its price. When this is compared with 

 the cost of the transportation of wheat by rail- 

 roads in America, some appreciation of the im- 

 mense disadvantage under which Japan labors 

 will be apparent. For this reason the regions of 

 the coast are far more preferred for agriculture 

 than the inland, every possible portion being 

 utilized, while in the interior often large tracts of 

 good land are left unfilled. 



Thus it will be seen that one of the chief de- 

 mands of Japan is for better and cheaper means 



1 100 sen = 1 yen, about 86 cents ; 1.9 ri = 1 geographical 

 mile. The Japanese terms are mostly reduced to their 

 English equivalents. 



