VEGETABLES IN EASTERN YANKEEDOM. 



T A MEETING of the Boston 

 market gardeners, an interest- 

 ing lecture on gardening in 

 Japan was delivered by W. P- 

 Brooks, now Professor of Ag- 

 riculture at the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College, who had 

 previously passed twelve years 

 as Professor of Agriculture in the land of the 

 Mikado. 



There, territory is assigned to foreigners apart 

 from the natives, and they are not subject to the 

 native laws, but are governed, under consular juris- 

 diction, by the laws of their respective countries. 

 The Japanese farmers bear three-fourths of the 

 total taxation of the country, which amounts to 

 about one-sixtieth of the income of each. The pop- 

 ulation of the islands is about 38,000,000. These 

 occupy an area which would hold about 7,800,000 

 people in the United States. The farmers compose 

 about two-thirds of the total population, produce all 

 the food and clothing of the people, and about half 

 the exports, in the form of rice, tea, silk and wheat. 

 The proportion of land under cultivation is only 

 one-eighth, or izi per cent. In the United States 

 only 15 per cent, of the land is under tillage, includ- 

 ing mowing land, which is not included in the Jap- 

 anese estimate. Indeed, there is very little of that 

 kind of land there, as nearly all the cultivated land 

 is under hoed crops. The land is largely along the 

 mountain sides and is cultivated in terraces, which 

 are banked up on the outside edges. The principal 

 crop is rice, which is irrigated by conducting the 

 mountain streams on to the banked terraces, an 

 abundant supply of water being in this way secured- 



The more level parts of the country are not cul- 

 tivated, for the mountain streams which are one 

 day babbling brooks are the next day roaring tor- 

 rents which inundate the land, a large part of which 

 is therefore unfit for cultivation. Owing to the ab- 

 sence of railroads and canals, and even of passable 

 common roads, farm products are too bulky for 

 profitable transportation to any considerable dis- 

 tance, as the charges would more than offset the 

 price of the goods. Farming operations are there- 

 fore followed mainly near the centers of consump- 

 tion ; but there every foot of cultivated land receives 

 the utmost care. In the United States the unit of 

 production is man ; in Japan it is the land. In the 



latter the amount of production per man per year is 

 eight bushels ; in the former it is seven times as 

 much. Generally, the land is very poor, but the 

 climate is favorable, as it is particularly humid, 

 with plentiful rainfalls. 



The individual holdings are small, running from 

 half an acre to an acre and a-half ; but two crops 

 are raised in a season, which is a long one. The 

 first is rice or winter grain or some hardy vegetable ; 

 the second a garden crop. 



There are two classes of land — the wet and dry. 

 The first is valued at $180 and the second at ^55 

 per acre. Wages are twenty cents per day. The 

 Japanese spend much for the luxuries and little for 

 the necessaries of life. Produce is sold at very low 

 figures ; string beans enough for a meal for a good 

 sized family cost only two cents ; two watermelons 

 can be bought for one cent. Plants furnishing oil 

 are largely cultivated, for, like the people of south- 

 ern Europe, the Japanese eat very little meat, using 

 oil instead. Of plants whose green leaves are used 

 as food, 35 species are raised, and 30 of plants that 

 afford starch, including 17 species of lilies, which 

 are grown for their bulbs. Enormous quantities of 

 beans are produced, including 17 species, each em- 

 bracing many varieties. Vegetables supplying nitro- 

 genous food take the place of meat ; some of these 

 contain 40 per cent, of albuminoids. Many kinds 

 of turnips are grown, but no Swedes. They are 

 hung up, leaves and all, under the eaves of the 

 houses, dried and made into soup. Enormous 

 quantities of red radishes are raised, mostly three 

 feet long, and are eaten raw or pickled ; but in the 

 latter condition they have a disagreeable flavor to 

 strangers. Parsnips are not favorites, but burdock 

 roots are, and grow four feet long. Horse radish is 

 cultivated, but not our kind. Tomatoes play a 

 small part in the dietary of the people, but egg- 

 plants are extensively grown and used in soups, and 

 at the end of the growing season the nubbins are 

 picked off and pickled. Peppers are not favorites. 

 Ginger is eaten green. Onions, though not long 

 cultivated, are taking the place of garlic. Sweet 

 potatoes are very extensively cultivated and largely 

 eaten instead of rice, for it pays to export the latter. 

 Irish potatoes receive no attention, and the few 

 grown are small and degenerate. The professor, 

 however, raised our Early Rose and Beauty of 

 Hebron at the rate of 300 to 400 bushels per acre, 



