1910.] Notes on Agriculture Abroad. 411 



the report by H.M. Commercial Attache at Yokohama (Mr. E. F. 

 Crowe) on the trade of Japan in 1909 (F.O. Report, Annual Series, 

 No. 45 11). 



The import of manures into Japan in 1909 forms one of the most 

 interesting items in the Customs Returns. Bean cake heads the list 

 as regards value; the total amount imported in 1909 was 575,180 

 tons, valued at ^2,283,700, or an average of ^3 195. 4^. a ton, as 

 compared with 461,950 tons, valued at ^2,220,000, in 1908, or 

 ^4 165. id. a ton. Next comes sulphate of ammonia; in this item 

 there was a big decline from 66,445 tons, valued at ^898,000, to 

 45,835 tons, valued at ^604,700, while in the case of both rock 

 phosphate and fish guano there was a decrease of over ^100,000. The 

 imports of nitrate of soda increased slightly. 



It is a well-known fact that bean cake has for years occupied the 

 position of the most popular imported fertiliser in Japan. Now, 

 however, that the United Kingdom, and the Continent of Europe and 

 America to a less extent, have become purchasers of Manchurian beans, 

 the question arises as to whether Japan will be able to continue to 

 buy bean cake in huge quantities if the price rises appreciably. In 

 studying this question two factors should not be lost sight of ; one is 

 that Japan is herself a large grower of soy beans, having, according 

 to the latest available returns (1908) over 1,200,000 acres under culti- 

 vation, producing annually some 19,000,000 bushels of beans, while 

 the other is that Japan imports very large quantities of soy beans 

 from China and Corea. The greater part of these beans is used 

 for the purpose of human food, i.e., in the making of l 'soy," "miso," 

 and bean curd, but a part, by no means small, is used as a fertiliser. 



Both in the case of beans and of cake, the imports in 1909 were 

 above those of the previous nine years, but the average price was 

 the lowest since 1903. Should the price in future be forced up very 

 high in consequence of British and other demands, the presumption 

 is that Japan would turn to sulphate of ammonia, if the cost per unit 

 of nitrogen therein were less than in the bean cake. On the other 

 hand, it must be remembered that the removal of the import duty 

 on sulphate of ammonia in the United States of America means that 

 the United States will probably absorb large quantities of the British 

 output, and that Japan will have to pay a higher price if she wants 

 a share of this fertiliser. Thus the outlook for nitrate of soda becomes 

 a good deal brighter, and now that, owing to the subsidised Japanese 

 line to South America, it is possible to get cheap direct rates of 

 freight, it looks as though nitrate of soda will be a serious competitor 

 to the other nitrogenous fertilisers, except in the matter of wet rice 

 cultivation. 



There is a point which, though obvious enough to those intimately 

 connected with the trade, is sometimes overlooked in general discus- 

 sions on the subject of bean cake, viz., that the British farmer can 

 afford to pay a proportionately higher price for cake than the Japanese 

 farmer, the reason being that in the United Kingdom the cake, after 

 serving for cattle feeding, turns into a fertiliser, whereas in Japan it is 

 employed as a fertiliser directly, without any intermediate use. 



Grain Trade of Roumania. — The Foreign Office Report (Annual 



