278 
ANIMALS FEW IN NUMBER. 
Chap. XYI. 
loosening and stirring up the soil between the 
rows, and removing any weeds. It is ripe and is 
harvested in November. 
Amongst other agricultural productions which 
grow in the valleys of Japan, may be mentioned, 
Arum esculentum , Scirpus tuherosus , and Juncus effu- 
sus, the latter being used in the manufacture of 
mats which are so common in the country. In 
the lakes and ponds large quantities of nelum- 
bium-roots are grown, and are used as a vegetable 
and also in the production of a kind of arrow- 
root. 
Such is a short account of Japanese farming as it 
presented itself to me in the autumn and winter of 
1860, and spring and summer of 1861. The farms 
are small in extent when compared with those in 
western countries, and the homesteads also present 
a very different appearance to ours. They have 
no “ lowing of oxen or bleating of sheep ; ” a 
stray pack-horse, or a solitary ox, may some- 
times be seen, but these are only used as beasts of 
burden. Pigs may sometimes be met with, but 
they are generally kept in the background out of 
view ; pork, however, is abundant in the butchers’ 
shops. Goats and sheep do not appear to be 
indigenous; some of the latter have been im- 
ported from China, but the experiment of accli- 
matising them has not yet succeeded. They 
invariably become diseased, and die off. Cows 
or oxen are little used in agriculture, and it is 
probable that the Japanese, like their neighbours 
