14 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
verticillata, Japanese maples, pines and similar stock in 
beautiful condition, mixed in among rice fields, bamboo 
groves and farm products. None of these farmers know 
me botanical names of the stock they grow; the thatched 
roofs of Ihe natives and the mixture of growing stock re¬ 
minded me of some of the out-of-the-way nursery sec¬ 
tions of Holland, but the Japanese district is much more 
picturesque and has a charm all its own. 
All through Japan railroad travelling is cheap, quick 
and comfortable, the trains carry three classes and on the 
main lines they carry dining and sleeping cars. The 
hotels all through the Orient—especially Japan, are 
dean and well-kept, European food is excellently served 
and the attendance is thorough without being obsequious. 
One can travel in Japan with more pleasure and comfort 
strong and wiry; in Tokio I saw two men pulling a load 
that with us would require four horses. They are 
honest, too. We stayed often in Japaneese hotels where 
there is no privacy in the rooms, clothes containing valu- • 
ables have to be left unprotected in the tea houses and 
hotels, yet nothing was ever missing. In one hotel we 
stayed at in a small interior village,our Japanese host was 
handed a few cigarettes he had left there on a visit three 
month previously; they had been kept for him. The 
Japanese are very clean in their habits, most of them 
bathe two or three times a day, in Tokio alone there are 
over 1100 public baths. 
In travelling through Japan and observing the respect¬ 
ful friendship with which they regard all white people, 
especially Americans, it seeemd to me, as to several 
Entrance to a Nursery, near Tokio, Japan 
than any country I know of. 
The Japanese are a most likeable and loveable people. 
I hey set an example to us westerners in politeness, 
always courteous, always smiling, generous, hospitable, 
a peaceful happy people. There is very little crime. I 
never saw a quarrel or heard even a harsh word all the 
time 1 was in Japan. I walked alone through the 
crowded streets of Kioto and other large cities where 
Europeans are seldom seen, but I was not molested any¬ 
where and felt perfectly safe among them, though I had 
visited one of their Ju-Jitsu schools in operation at Kioto 
and knew !he power often contained in those small mus¬ 
cular bodies. Most of the men average only 120 to 130 
pounds, the women from 100 to 110 pounds, there 
are no very fat or thin Japanese. Rice is their 
staple food and this crop covers 50 per cent, of the 
cultivated fields. It grows under water. The women 
work as hard as the men, the men are exceptionally 
others with whom I spoke on the subject, that the only 
“Yellow Peril” we have to fear is the “Peril" of the 
“Yellow” newspapers, those pirates of journalism which 
print malicious fiction in our papers with the object of 
having it reprinted in equally yellow Japanese papers as 
the expression of the American people. Our government 
should muzzle these mischief mongers. 
Being with Ralph M. Ward, of New York, and staying 
with Japanese friends most of the time we were in cen¬ 
tral Japan, I had exceptional opportunities of seeing the 
Japanese as they live, I was taken or accompanied to 
wherever I wanted to go and was bathed and perfumed 
when I returned and fanned while 1 ate. I was over¬ 
whelmed with costly and beautiful presents and when we 
left Yokohoma baskets of flowers and plants were sent to 
our cabin and cages of crickets to sing to us on the way 
across. Gan you wonder that I liked Japan and the 
Japanese? 
