276 
RIGE-CULTIVATION. 
Chap. XVI. 
plough and harrow, drawn by the bullock or the 
buffalo. These animals are rarely seen in Japan 
employed in this way ; at least, they did not come 
under my observation. The rice-lands are pre- 
pared almost entirely by manual labour. A 
strong three- pronged fork, having the prongs 
bent like a hoe, is used for this purpose. The 
land is then flooded, and manured with grass and 
weeds cut and brought from adjacent waste 
ground, and used in a fresh state , as I have 
already described. The surface of the fields is 
then made smooth, and is considered ready for 
the young rice in the seed-beds. 
The transplanting of the young paddy com- 
mences about the 8th of June. About three 
inches of water cover the surface of the fields, and 
the planting goes on with the most astonishing 
rapidity. The work is performed exactly in the 
same way as it is in China. A labourer takes a 
load of plants under his left arm, and drops them 
in little bundles over the surface of the land about 
to be planted, knowing, almost to a plant, what 
number will be required. Others, both men and 
women, take up the bundles which are thus 
thrown down, and the planting commences. The 
proper number of plants are selected and planted 
in rows, by the hand, in the muddy soil. When 
the hand is drawn up, the water rushes in, carry- 
ing down with it a portion of the soil, and thus 
the roots are covered instantaneously. Cranes, or 
herons, follow the labourers in the fields, and pick 
