270 
AGRICULTURE. 
Chap. XVI. 
in the peat-bogs of England. This description of 
soil, as I have already noticed, is not confined to 
the low valleys, hut is also met with on the tops of 
the hills. 
The agricultural productions of Japan may be 
divided into two great classes, namely, the winter 
and the summer crops. The winter crops consist 
of wheat, barley, cabbage oil-plant (Brassica sinen- 
sis ), and other cabbage for the table, together with 
buckwheat, peas, beans, onions, and English pota- 
toes. The three first-mentioned may be consi- 
dered as the staple winter productions. All these 
crops are cultivated on land which is above the 
level of the rice valleys. The wheat and barley 
are sown in the end of October or beginning of 
November; these soon vegetate, and cover the 
hill-sides with lively green during the winter 
months. The seed is sown in rows, about two feet 
three inches apart, and is dropped in the drills by 
the hand in patches, each containing from twenly- 
five to thirty seeds, these patches being about a foot 
apart from each other in the drill. As the land 
has been carefully cleaned and prepared previously 
to sowing, scarcely any further labour is necessary 
during the winter and following spring. 
Early in the month of April the hill-sides are 
yellow with the flowers of the cabbage oil-plant, 
and the air is filled with its fragrance. About the 
10th of May the wheat and barley are in full ear, 
and the seed-pods of the cabbage are swelling and 
coming fast to maturity. The latter ripens near 
