June 5.—­4 to of herring applied.

  June 7.—­Locusts and other insects arrive.[21]

  June 20.—­153 clumps of rice transplanted from the seed bed.[22]

  July 11.—­Rice cultivated and 4 to of herring applied.

  July 27.—­First weeding.

  Aug. 6.—­Second weeding.

  Aug. 8.—­Locusts again.

  Aug. 11.—­Third weeding.

  Sept. 10.—­All ears shot.

  Oct. 10.—­Some plants suffering from bacillus.

It was further noted that the soil was sandy, that cold spring water was percolating through the bottom of the paddy field, that the aeration of the soil was bad and that some plants were laid by wind.  The young farmer appended to his report an excellent plan.  He received marks as follows:  Method of planting, 15; levelling, 20; provision against insects, 5; general attention, 25; total, 65.  Some boys got as many as 99 marks.

A word concerning a Village Association for Promoting Morality.  One of the things it does is to assemble yearly the whole population, old and young, “in order to get friendly.”  The police meanwhile keep an eye open for strangers who might take it into their heads to visit the village on that day and help themselves from the houses.  I may quote three poems in rough translations from a speech made by a priest at the annual meeting: 

The legs of a horse, the rudder of a boat, the pin of a fan,
    and the sincerity of a man. 
Let your heart be pure and true and you need not pray
    for the protection of the gods. 
The bride brings many things with her to her new home,
    but one thing more, the spirit of sincerity, will not
    encumber her.

After these varied accounts of rural merit, I could not but listen with attention to a tale of village gamblers, the offence of gambling having been “introduced by the excavators on the new railway.”  First the headman fined a dozen young men.  Then he made a raid and found among the village sinners several members of his own council.  “The salaried officials were at a loss to know what to do, and proposed to resign.  But the headman brought the prisoners together before the whole body of officials.  He spoke of the sufferings of the troops in Manchuria and the heroic deaths among them. (It was the time of the Russian war.) ’Lest your offences should come to be known by our soldiers and discourage them,’ said the headman, ’I cannot but overlook your conduct.’  It is thought that gambling practically ceased from that time.”

Local officials have a way of making the most of historic events in order to touch the imagination of their villagers.  Many original undertakings were begun, for example, under the inspiration of the Coronation.  One village set about raising a fund by a system of taxation under which inhabitants contribute according to the following tariff: