AGRICULTURE IN JAPAN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2116, 15 February 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

AGRICULTURE IN JAPAN.

How Britain’s Brown Allies Shape ‘On the Land.”

(By W. J. Jonos in the “ Canterbury Times.”)

lu a county wlioro nearly fifty millions of people live within a compass of 155,000 square miles, three-quaaT-ers of them upon one-third of that area, one might, well expect to find a constant demand lor food supplies upon more sparsely populated terri lories. But the Japanese farmer is the most wonderful in tho world, lie is a. genius in his own particular way. From less than 110,000 square miles of eultivatahle soil he produces a sullieieney to appease the appetites of the nation's millions. Wo say appease advisedly, for the people eat sparingly, some of 'them, of necessity, meagrely. The Japanese farmer is well versed in the chemistry of the soil; lie knows how to extract returns from apparently barren land ; be will create a freehold id a few yards square on the face of an apparently impracticable hill; his willingness to work is restricted only by the limitations of light; but. bis methods lorbit the adoption ot modern agricultural machinery. Indeed, there are few of the farmers who could afford to purchase binders or cultivators, and where labor is so cheap, the expenditure would not seem justifiable. “Such land in our country would not feed a rabbit-!” remarked a stock inspector from Australia ; but by means of superhuman efforts it. is made to provide supplies for Japan's fifty millions.

exceeds the supply. Altogether, there is no room under present conditions for Western machines on a Japanese farm, and there appears to bo no necessity for them. The aggregation of estates is by no means one of the problems requiring solution, so far as the land will go it would seem to be apportioned with tolerable impartiality. That a people is able tu support itself under such conditions, is an object-lesson in industry to the world; that n nation symptomatically on the vorgo of bankruptcy should wage a successful war against, a great Western Rower is almost inconceivable

“TEACHING THE YOUNG IDEA.” The Government lias long realised the necessity for instructing the young Japanese in scientific method-. of farming, with particular refer, uco to tlio treatment of the soil and the use of efficient fertiliser:. There are several agricultural schools in different parts of the mainland, where practical farmin;-; is taught in its multiplicity of pluses—the cultivation of grain, dairying, cattle and horse breeding, b' '-keeping and the rearing of silkw .ins. 'Samples of wheat, oats, barley, rieo and cereals of every variety are exhibited in neat glass cases. Large fields are utilised for experimental p-uiiuosee, mud it would be impossible to say that there is anything lacking in these institutions which would be useful in providing the equipment of a iinodorn agriculturalist or breeder. The. pupils -are geneally entlmsuistic and like their work, and, as u large number of them are sons of rich parents,' in. all probability there is "a new era in store for farming in Japan. The writer was shown over one of the schools by the principal, who was completely wrappod up hi bis duties. He explained the difficulties to be encountered by farmers in a country where the limitil tion of areas is so pitifully exemplified. Dairying, he said, paid best of all, but was not carried on to any great extent. This is not surprising, as dairying does not come within the scopo of the saivail farmer, who lives from hand to mouth, scarcely having any surplus from his crop, after setting aside the rice necessary for borne consumption. 'There -appears little reason to apprehend that the Japanese farmer will be lacking in savoir fa ire; if there he anything lacking to produce gooil results it will be the land. JAPAN’S WOOL SUPPLIES. The subject of wool can scarcely bo said to come under tlio hooding of agriculture, but it will bo .advantageous -to refer to it, as tlio matter is of particular interest to the business people of NYw Zealand. Tlio representative of a ,prominent linn of wool dealers and the buyer for several large factories in the East assured the -writer that a good trade, could bo opened up with this dominion. This gentleman dealt very largely in New Zealand wools, which, however, came to him through somewhat circuitous channels, being obtained from Antwerp or London, as the merchants in Japan were not aware that Wool sales were held in many partis of tho Dominion. Japan depends entirely upon, outside supplies for her wool, as sheep are almost -unknown in the country, .and therefore he considered that a* good trade might he done if the fact were given currency in the necessary quarters, that New Zealand wool was offered to buyers in our own markets. He mentioned tentatively that cheaper materials might be exported from here to Japan for navy serges, etc., if it could be done with advantage to the manufacturer on this side, which, in view of the difference in the price of labor, and the small spending power of the people, is extremely doubtful. There is. however, .an increasing demand .amongst the moneyed classes for better-grade manufactures, and military uniforms also are being made of improved material. The imports of wool into the emmtrv total £2,000,000 per inn mini, and this trade at all events is worth securing. A PICTURESQUE LANDSCAPE.

FARM IN G EXTK AORDIN All Y. The iariuer understands the rotation of crops and tlie possibilities of the soil with which ho is dealing. The land is largely volcanic, anil is worked out- completely alter each harvest; yet by judicious humoring, by systematic irrigation, by . treatment with the kind of manure suited to its requirements, it is again brought to the productive pitch. Bone dust and lime are not used ins fertilisers to any great extent, the principal restorative agents being iiigbtsoil, oil cake, and vegetable manures, in many eases large crops ol a. variety of red clover afro grown ami turn-ed-into the ground to assist in tho process of reinvigoratioii. Whatever suits the farmer best is cultivated. The land is -too valuable,and the holdings are too small to give the soil a rest, and therefore it is turned over again and again, irrigated, manured and coaxed in every conceivable manner that it may yield the enterpusing farmer a harvest; indeed, it is sometimes required to produce three crops annually, beans, peas and other vegetables being sown simultaneously with the cereal, which is grown in furrows about eighteen inches apart. The average holding of a small farmer is about an acre and a half, and the returns are, approximately 15 bushels of rice, or 23 bushels of wheat per acre, or between £6 and £7 jor his crop. Many, however, arc compelled by limited moans to exist upon much smaller allotments, and not infrequently families are to beo seen working miniature farms of not more than forty feet square. Do they make it pay? Well, they appear to 'keep body and soul together, for enthusiasm can surmount any number ot apparently insuperable obstacles.

THE COUNTRY’S GRAIN YIELD. Rico is tho staple product of the country, barlev, wheat, millet, maize, peas and beans being also largely mown. The wheat is of a very inferior sample—a loug-boardeiT native variety— and makes poor flour. Une discovers this when lie reaches the vicinity of Kobe, where the flour mills are operated. No oats arc to be seen in Southern Japan, but at Hokaaido, in Yezo, they are cultivated with a fair amount of success. After rice, barley is in most request, being utilised for brewing and feeding purposes. The Japanese manufacture beer in considerable quantities. Ihe transactions in rice on the lokjo Exchange for 1905 reached the \ .line of about eighteen million pounds, showing a decrease of a million on those of 1904, which were m turn less than two-thirds of the average for the preceeding four years. Ihc result, of the war in temporarily crippling tho industries of a country are here eloquently manifest. In the amount of wheat distributed at the Corn Exchange was 121,240 liyo (u liyo equals 21 bushels) ; in 1903 it was 106,900 liyo; and m 1900 the volume of business had decreased to about one-third, being 44,th0 hyo. The barley distributed showed a decrease of nearly one-half on that for 18U9, but >vas slightly in excess ot the amount for the average ot the years intervening. As giving some idea of how the farmers faro, the prices of grain from the last available returns will be interesting. Rice realised in 1905 ail average of os 3d per bushel, wheat 4s 3d, barley 3s, and rye 3s 9d. . The figures are naturally comparatively high, on account of the decreased population consequent upon the war, and they will serve to illustrate the disastrous effects of that unfortunate conflict upon a population which depends almost entirely upon rice for its food supplies. iho people' had nothing, to eat, so they starved, and with their last articulate breath whispered “Banzai! I* l ' e J’ are still starving and crying Banzai 1” A country possessing a population so supremely happy in their misfortune must inevitably achieve greatness amongst the nations of tho eaH KNEE-DEEP IN MIRE Tho preparation of the paddy fields in which the young rice shoots are to be transplanted is a laborious undertaking. Men, women and children are to be seen standing knee-deep in tlio mire stirring up tlio unsavoroury compound which will be sou when the water is allowed to evaporate. They are 'removing the weeds with iron hooks and working m the fertilising adjuncts. Their farm is a mass of tilth, containing bloodsuckers and other abominable parasites of a viscuous nature, but m the ccni me of a few months it will C u! n a deep "reen with promise of M non. Jiai vest.” There is continuous work until the grain comes into eai. 4ne water is dammed. off to MW the rilants being put m, but it is still ankle deep and will remain so untd tho crop is ready to cut, and the workers' will not leave the field ex cept to snatch a lew bours’seepo to despatch a hasty mpaL « anese peasant woman has noth - to learn in the matter oi manual labor- indeed, she shares with the Italian mule the distinction of bein„ tho hardest worked creature m existence. In the paddy neld» xbe undertakes to stir the deepest poition of the quagmire, in the banest fields she is permitted to carry the heaviest loads She shoulders her burden with true Japanese philosopby; she grows old she becomes tanned and wizened, she is with rheumatism into the f antastic a - semblance of her former self but she continues to toil for hei There is no place jor incompetents in Japan.

Sufficient has been written to demonstrate the industry of a people who, preternaturally strenuous themselves, are not prepared to allow'tlie.ir land to remain idle. Year after year the process of depletion and renivigoralion are carried on by laborers who go to sleep and awaken with the bees. The Japaiise\peasants have much in common with these persistent little workers. They plough, they sow, they grub up weeds and reap in the harvest fields as if they were personally interested in the profits, instead of being paid at the rate of something less than three pounds ten- per annum. There are many hours in tho day, hilt (sixteen or eighteen seem so few to the Japanese that perpetual motion is necessary to compensate in some measure ifor the brevity of sunlight. The plains and valleys provide an inadequate supply of lagricultural land, and the .billslopes. are terraced and divided off into diminutive farms where- produce of every description is raised to meet the irequirenients.of the population. The Japanese landscape is never anything but picturesque. Nature has done little for the country - except provide it with some of the poorest soil in the world, but unremitting industry has served to remove this disadvantage. I'Some ingenuity has often to be employed in keeping the farms from slipping down the hillsides bit by bit, but there is no l ick of this quality in Japan. The grain, tlie fruit trees, the shrubs, or the beans .are as safe as if grown in the valleys instead of along a. steep gradient upon the face of which tho average human being would find it impossible -to find a foot-Mig. But one is disinclined to give way to astonishment at such novel conditions alter lie has been in Japan for a fendays, as ho realises that .to marvel at everything extraordinary would bo to encouirage a weakness which must become chronic and 'remain eo during his stay in the country. Water for irrigation purposes is brought from great distances along improvised aqueducts, through hastily-construct-ed channels, .and'down the roadways of tho closely-populated villages. Here ami there a naked child may he seen bathing in it, and here and there a housewife soaking the. scanty family wash; it lias many vicissitudes and becomes impregnated with many strange substances in transit to its destination. Where 'the paddy fields are higher than the surrounding country the streams are raised artificially above them; nothing in the, shape of engineering seems to daunt the Jan a n esc. Their methods are often old-fashioned and their mechanical contrivances usually tew autl simple, hut the results are invariably satisfactory. A Japanese tanner m i<r-ht reasonably he considered one of the wonders of the world, for despite the fact that modern methods of cultivation are set aside, he -«.s distinctly the most really scientific tiltoi of the soil .in existence.

TIME-HONOU RED A IETHO.DS. Horses are never used by the peasantry for' agricultural work. \\ hen the antiquated wooden plough is employed to'turn in the stubbie in preparation lor another crop, bullocks and eoiys aye yoked to the pole, but the proprietor'of a small area is content" to dig up IBs plot Titli the tratlttio?i.a) spade ol liis ioretathers. Labor-saving machinery is at a discount where labor is so cheap, money' so scarce, and the margin of profits so.small. The grain is harvested with the prehistoric reaping-knife, and every scrap is saved. There would scarcely be room in liis field for an up-to-date binder could he afford to purchase one. However. Ins farm workers, if he be compelled to go outside the family for assistance, rep/yive fifteenpence a week, and .the de- ' fin apd for employment considerably