 |
Agriculture
 |
|
Japan has long been an agrarian country. And despite the fact that today it is one of the most developed industrial states in the world, many features of the Japanese way of life originate from the rural economy. Agriculture has always been its main branch, and the main crop has been rice, although wheat, barley and millet are also grown. Besides vegetables and beans are grown and various industrial crops, among which there are tea, tobacco, oil-bearing crops, paper tree (from which paper was made), varnish-tree, etc. Only about 15% of the territory of Japan is suitable for agriculture. In highlands dry fields are located, and in lowlands – flooded. Dry agriculture is of secondary importance. Plouwing of land and other field works were carried out by peasants themselves or with the use of draft animals. Small number of cattle is a characteristic feature of the Japanese rural economy. The main type of cattle is cows; they are valued much more than horses, as they are undemanding, enduring and quite strong. Cows are mostly used in the southern regions of Japan where farms with small sites of cultural lands are typical. On Hokkaido and Tohoku islands, where conditions are close to those of Europe, horses play a more important part.
Before the mechanization of farming in the middle of the 20th century, fields were cultivated with wooden ploughs, harrows, reaping-hooks and other archaic manual implements. Water was delivered to the fields from canals with the help of water-wheels. Preparation of fields for sowing, plowing, planting of rice, weeding, fertilization and harvest were usually carried out manually.
|
|
 |
