Japan by the Japanese/Chapter 18.1

During twenty-five centuries the chief industry of Japan has been agriculture, and to-day 60 per cent. of the population is engaged in farming. Owing to religious prejudices, which have led the people to live largely upon vegetable diet, there has been little or no accumulation of live stock, so that the tiller of the soil, relieved of the need of pasturage, has been able to obtain a living from the product of an exceedingly small portion of land, one hectare (two and a half acres) per family being the average holding. The system of tillage, although for the most part primitive, is extremely thorough, two and even three crops per annum being raised on one piece of land, where climatic conditions permit. The men, when not engaged in actual farm work, betake themselves to such other occupations as offer temporary employment, the women and children, meantime, concerning themselves with such useful labour as the cultivation of silkworms, reeling silk, etc. Primitive methods, however, have succeeded in the past only because of the industry and sobriety of the people as a whole, and because of the lack of foreign competition; but with the desire to keep abreast of Western farmers, or possibly to lead, the necessity of modern scientific agricultural knowledge has been recognised by the Imperial Government, and where put to practical test has resulted in increased production per acre. To offset this, there is a tendency of the rural populations to drift into the cities, and, quite as serious, a decided decrease in the market for such staple productions as cotton, sugar, and tea, in which commodities, in spite of the assistance and supervision of a paternal Government, foreign competition is making considerable inroads.

The beet-sugar industry, established some time ago in Hokkaido, has not proved a success, in spite of largely-increased ​home consumption. To remedy this, however, much is being done in Formosa, Liuchiu, and Kagoshima, and there is every reason to hope for an early and decided improvement. Government effort in relation to sugar, as in other branches of agriculture, has been rather to improve the quality than to increase the quantity, in proof of which we have the fact that, while in one year the sugar area was increased by 5 per cent., the quantity produced decreased by a like amount. The same condition obtains in tobacco-growing, which has become a State monopoly, and which, under strict supervision, has much improved in quality.

The cotton-growers have hardly kept pace with the times, and the fibre, or staple, of the home-grown product is shorter than that of the best cotton-growing countries, while the goods themselves are more costly than the imported article from India, China, and America. Thus, the cotton crop has decreased by nearly two-thirds during a period of eight years. Hemp suffers from the rivalry of China and India, while Japanese mint is coming into great demand for export, to be used for medicinal and other purposes.

The paper mulberry-tree, or rather shrub, is a hardy growth which can be profitably raised on almost any waste land, and has great possibilities as the basis for a tough but rather coarse grade of paper. The Mitsuma, while naturally making a smooth and useful paper, is not of itself sufficiently tough, but this objection has been overcome by a process devised in the Printing Bureau. This improvement, added to its original popularity with foreign buyers, makes the industry a safe and promising investment for both cultivator and manufacturer.

As the quality of the tobacco crop has been redeemed under Government monopoly, and as the paper trade has been improved through the ingenuity of the Printing Bureau, so in every branch of agriculture may be seen the beneficial influence of intelligent official interest. Model farming, lectures on agriculture, agricultural colleges, and experimental farming at public expense, have received the support of the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, with whom the local boards have willingly co-operated.

The work of experimental farming is technically divided into three branches—viz., original research, practical application, and model farming. For the actual working of these three general divisions, the ideal of the Government was to have original research undertaken by the State; practical application of knowledge published by State experts to be dealt with by localities, so that each might be governed by the conditions of its own climate, soil, etc., and the model farming to be under the control of the cities and corporations. ​This plan, however, was of necessity somewhat disregarded, because of local ignorance and prejudice, and because of lack of facilities in rural communities for corporate farming, so that the State farms have been forced, to a great extent, to devote most of their time to the work of practical application and model farming, to the neglect of theoretical investigation and original research. With the growth of education this drawback is coming to be less and less of a factor, and the Head Farm and its branches have begun to revert to the original plan.

Since 1899 the Head Farm has been divided into six departments—namely, seed and saplings, agricultural chemistry, entomology, vegetable physiology, and general affairs. Later were added the two departments of tobacco and horticulture, while the compilation of reports has been brought to a high state of efficiency.

Apart from State farms, there are local experimental farms, maintained at local expense, and chiefly devoted to practical application of model farming. Of these, there are at present some thirty-seven scattered throughout the country, which, added to thirty-eight State farms, makes a total of seventy-five centres of agricultural experiment and instruction, independent of the farms maintained by subprefectural districts, where the work is simpler, and of lesser experimental farms established by towns or villages, or by organizations of farmers’ sons.

Rice being the staple product, and requiring a great amount of moisture, the art of irrigation has been much studied.

The consumption of fruit in Japan has always been limited, the cause being that the ordinary foodstuffs of the masses contain such a proportion of water as to leave no desire for fruit. However that may be, the fact is that fruit-growing is on the increase, large quantities now being exported to Siberia, and, rather oddly, to that land of fruit, America. The variety is extensive, including the orange family, which embraces mandarins, lemons, prunellos, etc., and apples, pears, cherries, bananas, pine-apples, etc.