. William H. Seward's travels around the world. are thick groves of the slender bamboo, which, be-sides being highly ornamental, is the most variously useful of allthe woods in the East. The althea, the lily, the japonica, the arbor-vitse, the wisteria,the passion-flower, and many other shrubs and creepers, which re-quire so much care and labor in our gardens and greenhouses, areluxuriant here. There is no waste, either by rock, marsh, or jun-gle ; every hill is terraced, every acre irrigated, every square footof land covered by some tree, cereal, or esculent. Instead of farms,there are small
. William H. Seward's travels around the world. are thick groves of the slender bamboo, which, be-sides being highly ornamental, is the most variously useful of allthe woods in the East. The althea, the lily, the japonica, the arbor-vitse, the wisteria,the passion-flower, and many other shrubs and creepers, which re-quire so much care and labor in our gardens and greenhouses, areluxuriant here. There is no waste, either by rock, marsh, or jun-gle ; every hill is terraced, every acre irrigated, every square footof land covered by some tree, cereal, or esculent. Instead of farms,there are small plots, and each is tilled with cotton, flax, wheat,barley, sugar, beets, peppers, sweet-potatoes, cabbages, turnips, andother vegetables, by a single family, with care equal to that whichis bestowed on our flower-beds. ]STo allowance is made for evenaccidental waste of the crop. The individual wheat-stalk which isbent down by the storm is restored and supported. Each head ofrice, each particular boll of cotton, is kept in its place until care-. A JAPANESE GARDEN. MONKS AND MONASTEKIES. 43 fully removed by the husbandmans hand. There is no loss oftime in gathering the crops into garners; as fast as the productripens, it is harvested and immediately prepared for the , though often cruel, is not always blind. A law of theempire obliges every one who fells a tree to plant another. Inthe midst of this rich and beautiful landscape, within an enclosureof two hundred acres, stands a Buddhist temple, with an adjoiningmonastery, surrounded by groves such as Downing might havedesigned. We came upon the base of the temple by successivenights of steps, each reaching from a platform below to a more con-tracted one above. The edifices are constructed of wood, which isgenerally used in Japan, for greater security against earthquakes. The temple has an overhanging roof and portico, which areunique and graceful. The columns, architraves and cornices areelaborately, though grotesq
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Keywords: ., bookcentury180, bookdecade1870, booksubjectvoyagesaroundtheworld
