Il8 TlMEHRI. 
water from beyond the salt-water compartment of the 
creek, the whole of the abandoned estates on the right 
bank will be fit for rice. 
From the valuable reports which are furnished to the 
Agricultural Bureau of the United States by their consu- 
lar agents from all parts of the world, I cannot forbear 
transmitting the concise report of the Honorable 
HORACE CapRON, written in 1873 on rice culture in 
Japan, as it is so analogous in many respects to what one 
finds in the rice gardens of this colony, especially those 
belonging to the Chinese. I have not been to Hopetown, 
Camoonie Creek, for years now ; but when last there the 
surface of the land and work done was exactly as des- 
cribed as prevailing in Japan. 
The concluding paragraph of this report is so to the 
point that I copy it. There is nothing in all the agri- 
culture of our country that can compare with Japan. The 
grand secret is, drainage, irrigation, economy and use 
of fertilizers, and thorough tillage : — ■ 
" Rice is the staple crop of Japan. In the present state of the census 
reports it is impossible to give the exacl: acreage of rice. The report of 
1870 places the number of acres at 8,000,000. Whether the area devoted 
to cultivation is increasing or not, it is impossible to tell. The produc- 
tion has been controlled entirely in the past by the home demand. 
Now, that the Imperial edi£l forbidding its export has been repealed, 
the production will be stimulated by the world's demand. 
" The last ' Red Book' of the Tycoon gives the total income of 
the Daimios, which was always paid in rice, at 6,000,000,000 pounds, 
or 111,000,000 bushels. This did not include the income of the 
Mikado's court at Kieto. for the support of which the income of the five 
richest provinces of the Empire was set apart. Thus the rice product 
was able to pay a tax of from seven to eight billions annually. Ninety- 
five per cent, of the rice of Japan is low-land rice ; almost the whole of 
the valley land is devoted to rice growing. It is the richest soil, and is 
the best adapted to irrigation. The land is divided into small lots, 
