WHEAT GROWING IN JAPAN.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1029, 2 May 1883, Page 2

WHEAT GROWING IN JAPAN.

Mr Van Suren, United States .Consol Japan, reports to the State . Department d * Agriculture on the cultivation of wheat in Japan as follows The uplands are pre« f erred for wheat-growing. The soil is thoroughly dug up and pulvervised with the long, wide-bladed mattock. It'is then dmd£d| off into small plats, each of which is then furrowed by the, same instrument into rows, three or four inches deep, and twelve or fifteen inches apart. Into these furrows ashes and a thoroughly decomposed compost are scattered, and then in' October seed is dropped by hand, about 1 to 1} bushels to the acre, and covered by the mattock r io the depth of I to 1-J inches. 1 ; The' ground is turned up. two ox three times ser month, and liquid manure is applied three or four times during the winter and spring to .. the roots of the plant. In the autumn- -some : kind of hardy vegetables are planted between the rows of wheat. The wheat ripens in May : ; and is cut by knife much like our old cord knives, and bound into small bundles, which' , are either hung up on trees or bamboo poles, • or laid on hard ground to dry, when it is • carried to thefarmhouse, where it is threshed. Tills threshing process consists of first pulling = ' off all the kernels of grain and the husks by means of a row of iron teeth, long and saw-like, closely set in a stick of wood. Between these teeth a few wheat heads at a time are rapidly drawn, tearing off- the" kernels and their coverings. The grain is separated by threshing - on - mats with a flail, much like the instrument of that name formerly in use in New England. The chaff is separated by one person slowly pouring the grain from a scoop-shaped ; basket held four or five feet from the ground, whilst another person stirs the air with an enormous fan. Some of the larger landowners have a' winnowing mill with sieves or screens muchlike our own. These were introduced during the eighteenth century by the Dutch. The wheat is- then put into straw sacks and carried either on hand-carts or on the backs of horses to Wheat is grown in all parts of the empire, and is what is known with us as winter wheat. It is not, however, as compared with rice, an important crop. The total product in 1878 was about 38,000,000 bushels, valued at about 19,000,000 dollars, Mexican. The yield is about 20 bushels to the acre. It is mostly eaten m the j form of cakes, cooked without any process of fermentation. The wheat flour is ground, in a small stone mill, as old in styleas the wntten history of the food of the world. The flour is bolted by hand in a small bos, two by three feet. The grain is coarsely ground and the flour imperfectly bolted, which, perhaps, is a fault on the right side, as the starch granules are not as much broken as with us and more nitrogenous matter is allowed to pass the , bolts than our bfest brands contain.