| Show FARMING IN JAPAN JAPAl Crude Implements Still Used in Cultivating Cultivating Cultivating the Soil Twenty seven hundred years before c Christ rist the Emperor of China introduced a system of agriculture into his country The rhe soil had bad alwa always s been cultivated in an inferior interior way but this enterprising rhIer saw the need of other methods and made every even effort to enforce their general adoption In order to Impress the matter upon uon the he plowed a small lot lotof or of land and sowed It with the five most mot Important cereals For this he was deified fter death and mad madd god of ot the crops For more than years the rulers of the empire have followed his example in the matter of plo plowing and sowing When these new modes of cultivation had been well established and every hillside hillSide hillside hill hill- side and valley were smiling ready for harvest the islands of Japan became known to China and they sent their missionary missionary missionary mis mis- priest over to this country They took with them the entire civilization of China theIr China their arts sciences philosophy industries industries In in- and among the latter their well well- tested methods metho s of enriching t the soil I eola ola The Japanese e farmer had many disadvantages disadvantages iSad vantages that made the process of better bettor cultivation very difficult The entire country country country coun coun- try is of volcanic formation and only twelfth one of the land Is sufficiently fiat flat to admit of farming Added to this the soil Boll Itself Is naturally of a very poor quality and r requires special treatment both by ways of enriching and Irrigation The great greatest st advantage of the farmer Is the fact that he has divided the land into int br very small aI sections Perhaps i i it would r be more accurate c to say that t extreme poverty makes it Impossible for fez feza a a. farmer to possess more e than a sized good potato patch t seIt At any er r rate n the e smallness if of the I isis fat has t its tad ad advantages a and the t toil of i the f farmer of f today is not to be e mentioned men men- when Compared with that of his ancestors who took the virgin soil In all Its Us poverty and lavished no end of energy and strength to bring It lt t up to its ts present producing producing- capacity Yes the farmer of today has entered Into a rich heritage of hills already terraced t and plains finely Ir Irrigated irrigated irrigated ir- ir representing the patient steady toll of many centuries The first turning of the soil on a well- well conducted plot Is Is- done by a crude plow harnessed to a bullock or horse usually the former A crooked piece of wood forms the central feature of this ancient structure To Tone one e end Is a attached a s sharp ui loo ri blade and d to the eo o other a crossbeam a used for the double uble purpose of tethering the bullock which Is harnessed with indescribable inde Ind rope trappings and also furnishing furnishing fur fur- a a. means by which the farmer may guide UI the plow After this t g sort of plowing i the tet soil Is loed red b by a a. of long long- n handled andl spade and th process of planting begins The crude manner of the preparation of the soil soli Is of little ittle moment when compared compared com corn pared with the harvesting The sickle Is scarcely lar larger er than a curved bread- bread knife and upon this the farmer depends for gathering ev everything that is not up up- rooted roote Springfield Ohio Farm and Fire Fire- ire ire- side |
