Farmers of forty centuries; or, Permanent agriculture in China, Korea and Japan . .Such intense culture requires a heavy return if large yields are tobe maintained. Good agricultural lands were here valued at 300yen per tan, approximately $600 per acre. When returning toward Moji to visit the Agricultural Experi- 329 330 EETURN TO JAPAN ment Station of Fukuoka prefecture, the rice along the first por-tion of the route was standing about 8 inches above the lotus ponds along the way occupied areas not readilydrained, and the fringing fields between the rice fields and theuntilled hil
Farmers of forty centuries; or, Permanent agriculture in China, Korea and Japan . .Such intense culture requires a heavy return if large yields are tobe maintained. Good agricultural lands were here valued at 300yen per tan, approximately $600 per acre. When returning toward Moji to visit the Agricultural Experi- 329 330 EETURN TO JAPAN ment Station of Fukuoka prefecture, the rice along the first por-tion of the route was standing about 8 inches above the lotus ponds along the way occupied areas not readilydrained, and the fringing fields between the rice fields and theuntilled hill lands were bearing squash, maize, beans and Irishpotatoes. Many small areas had been set to sweet potatoes onclose narrow ridges, the tops of which were thinly strewn withgreen grass, or sometimes with straw or other Utter, for shadeand to prevent the soil from washing and baking in the hot sunafter rains. At Kitsu we passed near Government salt works,for the manufacture of salt by the evaporation of sea water, thisindustry in Japan, as in China, being a Government Fig. lyi. - W orkuig grccn herbage into a flooded paddy field for green manure,preparatory for the following crop of rice. Many bundles of grass and other green herbage were collectedalong the way, gathered for use in the rice fields. In other casesthe green manure had already been spread over the flooded paddyfields and was being worked beneath the surface, as seen in At this time the hill lands were clothed in the richest, deepestgreen, but the tree growth was nowhere large except immediatelyabout temples, and was usually in distinct small areas with sharpboundaries occasioned by differences in age. Some tracts had beenvery recently cut; others were in their second, third or fourthyears; while others still carried a growth of perhaps seven to tenyears. At one village many bundles of the brush fuel had beengathered from an adjacent area, recently cleared. FERTILIZERS FOR RICE AND BARLEY 331 A f
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