Japan and the Japanese illustrated . l flower. In four, or five weeks time,on the lower ground, they will be reaping tha barley and wheat sown in Japan they sow corn as we plant potatoes in Europe, in regular, perfectlystraight rows, and between each of these there is an interval of free space inwhich are already sprouting a peculiar species of beans, which will spring up when thefield shall have been reaped. That green surface which might be taken for sproutingcorn is a field of millet, which was sown in March and will be ripe in September. E 2 2S LIFE IN JAPAN. Millet is eat
Japan and the Japanese illustrated . l flower. In four, or five weeks time,on the lower ground, they will be reaping tha barley and wheat sown in Japan they sow corn as we plant potatoes in Europe, in regular, perfectlystraight rows, and between each of these there is an interval of free space inwhich are already sprouting a peculiar species of beans, which will spring up when thefield shall have been reaped. That green surface which might be taken for sproutingcorn is a field of millet, which was sown in March and will be ripe in September. E 2 2S LIFE IN JAPAN. Millet is eaten by the natives in as large quantities as wheat ; they grind it intoflour, and make cakes or porridge of it. On an adjacent plain there is a labourer tilling the ground by means of a smallplough drawn by one horse. In the fertile soil he will sow the seed of the cotton-tree, and in September or October each seed will have produced a plant two or threefeet high, laden with twenty capsules arrived at maturity. Several white birds of. A the stork or heron family seem to be working in concert with the agriculturist; theyfollow him about gravely, and, by plunging their long beaks into the half-openedfurrow, they destroy the larva which the plough has just turned up. In the depth of the valley are rice-grounds, which were laid under water abouta month ago, by the opening of the sluice-gates of the irrigation canals. While in RICE-GROWING. i!i this state, the soil is broken up l»y the plough, and trodden I)y the feet of thebuflaloes and the labourers ; the latter treading up to their ealves in the elay, andbreaking the stubborn elunips with pickaxes. When the earth has been mashed intda kind of li(|uid paste, men and women go step by step along the dykes of tin-enclosure, and throw in handfuls of seed upon the square spaces destined to formthe nursery ground. Then these are turned over with a kind of rake, in order todistribute and bury the seed. Now the water has subsi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidjapanjapanes, bookyear1874
