Italy 100
India 51
Germany 121
France 122
Egypt 153
Japan 213
In the realm of agriculture, as in all departments of modern Japan's
material development, abundant traces are found of official activity.
Thus, in the year 1900, the government enacted laws designed to
correct the excessive subdivision of farmers' holdings; to utilize
unproductive areas lying between cultivated fields; to straighten
roads; to facilitate irrigation; to promote the use of machinery; to
make known the value of artificial fertilizers; to conserve streams
and to prevent inundations. Further, in order to furnish capital for
the purposes of farming, 46 agricultural and commercial banks--one in
each prefecture--were established with a central institution called
the hypothec bank which assists them to collect funds. A Hokkaido
colonial bank and subsequently a bank of Formosa were also organized,
and a law was framed to encourage the formation of co-operative
societies which should develop a system of credit, assist the business
of sale and purchase and concentrate small capitals. Experimental
stations were another official creation. Their functions were to carry
on investigations relating to seeds, diseases of cereals, insect
pests, stock-breeding, the use of implements, the manufacture of
agricultural products and cognate matters. Encouragement by grants in
aid was also given to the establishment of similar experimental farms
by private persons in the various prefectures, and such farms are now
to be found everywhere. This official initiative, with equally
successful results, extended to the domain of sericulture and
tea-growing. There are two state sericultural training institutions
where not only the rearing of silk-worms and the management of
filatures are taught, but also experiments are made; and these
institutions, like the state agricultural stations, have served as
models for institutes on the same lines under private auspices. A
silk-conditioning house at Yokohama; experimental tea-farms; laws to
prevent and remove diseases of plants, cereals, silk-worms and cattle,
and regulations to check dishonesty in the matter of fertilizers,
complete the record of official efforts in the realm of agriculture
during the Meiji era.
Stockbreeding.
One of the problems of modern Japan is the supply of cattle. With a
rapidly growing taste for beef--which, in former days, was not an
article of diet--there is a slow but steady diminution in the stock of
cattle. Thus while the number of the latter in 1897 was 1,214,163, out
of which total 158,504 were slaughtered, the corresponding figures in
1906 were 1,190,373 and 167,458, respectively. The stock of sheep
(3500 in 1906) increases slowly, and the stocks of goats (58,694 in
1897 and 74,750 in 1906) and swine (206,217 in 1897 and 284,708 in
1906) grow with somewhat greater rapidity, but mutton and pork do not
suit Japanese taste, and goats are kept mainly for the sake of their
milk. The government has done much towards the improvement of cattle
and horses by importing bulls and sires, but, on the whole, the mixed
breed is not a success, and the war with Russia in 1904-5 having
clearly disclosed a pressing need of heavier horses for artillery and
cavalry purposes, large importations of Australian, American and
European cattle are now made, and the organization of race-clubs has
been encouraged throughout the country.
_Forests._--Forests occupy an area of 55 millions of acres, or 60% of
the total superficies of Japan, and one-third of that expanse, namely,
18 million acres, approximately, is the property of the state. It
cannot be said that any very practical attempt has yet been made to
develop this source of wealth. The receipts from forests stood at only
13 million _yen_ in the budget for 1907-1908, and even that figure
compares favourably with the revenue of only 3 millions derived from
the same source in the fiscal year 1904-1905. This failure to utilize
a valuable asset is chiefly due to defective communications, but the
demand for timber has already begun to increase. In 1907 a revised
forestry law was promulgated, according to which the administration is
competent to prevent the destruction of forests and to cause the
planting of plains and waste-lands, or the re-planting of denuded
areas. A plan was also elaborated for systematically turning the state
forests to valuable account, while, at the same time, providing for
their conservation.
_Fisheries._--From ancient times the Japanese have been great
fishermen. The seas that encircle their many-coasted islands teem with
fish and aquatic products, which have always constituted an essential
article of diet. Early in the 18th century, the Tokugawa
administration, in pursuance of a policy of isolation, interdicted the
construction of ocean-going ships, and the people's enterprise in the
matter of deep-sea fishing suffered a severe check. But shortly after
the Restoration in 1867, not only was this veto rescinded, but also
the government, organizing a marine bureau and a marine products
examination office, took vigorous measures to promote pelagic
industry. Then followed the formation of the marine products
association under the presidency of an imperial prince. Fishery
training schools were the next step; then periodical exhibitions of
fishery and marine products; then the introduction and improvement of
fishing implements; and then by rapid strides the area of operations
widened until Japanese fishing boats of improved types came to be seen
in Australasia, in Canada, in the seas of Sakhalin, the Maritime
Province, Korea and China; in the waters of Kamchatka and in the Sea
of Okhotsk. No less than 9000 fishermen with 2000 boats capture yearly
about £300,000 worth of fish in Korean waters; at least 8000 find a
plentiful livelihood off the coasts of Sakhalin and Siberia, and 200
Japanese boats engage in the salmon-fishing of the Fraser River. In
1893, the total value of Japanese marine products and fish captured
did not exceed 1¼ millions sterling, whereas in 1906 the figure had
grown to 5½ millions, to which must be added 3{1/8} millions of
manufactured marine products. Fourteen kinds of fish represent more
than 50% of the whole catch, namely, (in the order of their
importance) bonito (_katsuo_), sardines (_iwashi_), pagrus (_toi_),
cuttle-fish and squid (_tako_ and _ika_), mackerel (_saba_), yellow
tail (_buri_), tunny-fish (_maguro_), prawns (_ebi_), sole (_karei_),
grey mullet (_bora_), eels (_unagi_), salmon (_shake_), sea-ear
(_awabi_) and carp (_koi_). Altogether 700 kinds of aquatic products
are known in Japan, and 400 of them constitute articles of diet. Among
manufactured aquatic products the chief are (in the order of their
importance) dried bonito, fish guano, dried cuttle-fish, dried and
boiled sardines, dried herring and dried prawns. The export of marine
products amounted to £900,000 in 1906 against £400,000 ten years
previously; China is the chief market. As for imports, they were
insignificant at the beginning of the Meiji era, but by degrees a
demand was created for salted fish, dried sardines (for fertilizing),
edible sea-weed, canned fish and turtle-shell, so that whereas the
total imports were only £1600 in 1868, they grew to over £400,000 in
1906.
_Minerals._--Crystalline schists form the axis of Japan. They run in a
general direction from south-west to north-east, with chains starting
east and west from Shikoku. On these schists rocks of every age are
superimposed, and amid these somewhat complicated geological
conditions numerous minerals occur. Precious stones, however, are not
found, though crystals of quartz and antimony as well as good
specimens of topaz and agate are not infrequent.
Gold.
Gold occurs in quartz veins among schists, paleozoic or volcanic rocks
and in placers. The quantity obtained is not large, but it shows
tolerably steady development, and may possibly be much increased by
more generous use of capital and larger recourse to modern methods.
Silver.
The value of the silver mined is approximately equal to that of the
gold. It is found chiefly in volcanic rocks (especially tuff), in the
form of sulphide, and it is usually associated with gold, copper, lead
or zinc.
Copper.
Much more important in Japan's economics than either of the precious
metals is copper. Veins often showing a thickness of from 70 to 80
ft., though of poor quality (2 to 8%), are found bedded in crystalline
schists or paleozoic sedimentary rocks, but the richest (10 to 30%)
occur in tuff and other volcanic rocks.
Iron.
There have not yet been found any evidences that Japan is rich in iron
ores. Her largest known deposit (magnetite) occurs at Kamaishi in
Iwate prefecture, but the quantity of pig-iron produced from the ore
mined there does not exceed 37,000 tons annually, and Japan is obliged
to import from the neighbouring continent the greater part of the iron
needed by her for ship-building and armaments.
Coal.
Considerable deposits of coal exist, both anthracite and bituminous.
The former, found chiefly at Amakusa, is not greatly inferior to the
Cardiff mineral; and the latter--obtained in abundance in Kiuushiu and
Yezo--is a brown coal of good medium quality. Altogether there are 29
coal-fields now actually worked in Japan, and she obtained an
important addition to her sources of supply in the sequel to the war
with Russia, when the Fushun mines near Mukden, Manchuria, were
transferred to her. During the 10 years ending in 1906, the market
value of the coal mined in Japan grew from less than 2 millions
sterling to over 6 millions.
Petroleum.
Petroleum also has of late sprung into prominence on the list of her
mineral products. The oil-bearing strata--which occur mainly in
tertiary rocks--extend from Yezo to Formosa, but the principal are in
Echigo, which yields the greater part of the petroleum now obtained,
the Yezo and Formosa wells being still little exploited, the quantity
of petroleum obtained in Japan in 1897 was 9 million gallons, whereas
the quantity obtained in 1906 was 55 millions.
Japanese mining enterprise was more than trebled during the decade
1897 to 1906, for the value of the minerals taken out in the former
year was only 3½ millions sterling, whereas the corresponding figure
for 1906 was 11 millions. The earliest mention of gold-mining in Japan
takes us back to the year A.D. 696, and by the 16th century the
country had acquired the reputation of being rich in gold. During the
days of her medieval intercourse with the outer world, her stores of
the precious metals were largely reduced, for between the years 1602
and 1766, Holland, Spain, Portugal and China took from her 313,800 lb.
(troy) of gold and 11,230,000 lb. of silver.
Copper occupied a scarcely less important place in Old Japan. From a
period long anterior to historic times this metal was employed to
manufacture mirrors and swords, and the introduction of Buddhism in
the 6th century was quickly followed by the casting of sacred images,
many of which still survive. Finding in the 18th century that her
foreign intercourse not only had largely denuded her of gold and
silver, but also threatened to denude her of copper, Japan set a limit
(3415 tons) to the yearly export of the latter metal. After the
resumption of administrative power by the emperor in 1867, attention
was quickly directed to the question of mineral resources; several
Western experts were employed to conduct surveys and introduce
Occidental mining methods, and ten of the most important mines were
worked under the direct auspices of the state in order to serve as
object lessons. Subsequently these mines were all transferred to
private hands, and the government now retains possession of only a few
iron and coal mines whose products are needed for dockyard and arsenal
purposes. The following table shows the recent progress and present
condition of mining industry in Japan:--