Page:A handbook of modern Japan (IA handbookofmodern01clem).pdf/47

The principal products of the Japanese farms are rice, barley, wheat, millet, maize, beans, peas, potatoes (Irish and sweet), turnips, carrots, melons, eggplants, buckwheat, onions, beets, and a large white bitter radish (daikon). A very good average yield is fifty bushels to an acre. The entire annual production of rice varies each year, but averages about 46,000,000 koku;^[1] and the annual exportation of rice runs from about 8,000,000 yen to over 10,000,000 yen. The list of fruits^[2] and nuts grown in Japan includes pears, peaches, oranges, figs, persimmons, grapes, plums, loquats, apricots, strawberries, bananas, apples, peanuts, chestnuts, etc.

Among other important Japanese productions must be mentioned, of course, tea, tobacco, and mulberry trees. Of these the last is, perhaps, indigenous; but the other two are importations in their origin. The culture of tea is most extensively carried on in the middle and southern districts. The annual production is now about 7,000,000 kwan;^[3] the annual export trade is valued at over 10,000,000 yen. The price of tea runs from five cents to six dollars per pound, of which the last is raised at Uji, near Kyōto. The Japanese are a tea-drinking people; they use that beverage at meals and between meals, at all

in the Western world, there has been a steady flow of country people towards the towns. The statistics published on this matter show, that, whereas in 1889 the proportion of townspeople to the total number of inhabitants was 15 in every 100 persons, in 1898 it has risen to 18. This accounts for the scarcity of farm labor, which has constantly been complained of in recent years.—Japan Mail.

1. ↑ See tables in Appendix.
2. ↑ See Appendix.
3. ↑ See tables of weights and measures in Appendix.