The rearing
of silkworms has been assiduously undertaken from time immemorial, or
"the ages eternal" according to some Japanese historians. Like so many
other arts and industries of the country, silkworms are believed to
have been introduced from China. For some time prior to the opening of
Japan to European trade and influences the silk industry had rather
languished owing to the enforcement of certain sumptuary laws
confining the wearing of silk garments to a select class of the
community, but so soon as Japan discarded her policy of isolation from
the rest of the world the production of and demand for silk rapidly
increased, and the trade in it has now assumed considerable
dimensions. Strange to say, silk is still in Japan what linen was at
one time in the North of Ireland--a by-industry of the farmer, a room
in his house being kept as a rearing chamber for the silkworms, which
are carefully looked after by his family. According to official
returns, there are rather more than two and a half million families so
engaged, and nearly half a million silk manufacturers. The largest
part of the silk exported goes to the United States of America.
Closely allied with the production of silk is the mulberry-tree, the
leaves of which form the staple food of the silkworm. This plant is
cultivated with great care throughout the country, and indeed there
are many mulberry farms entirely devoted to the culture of the tree
and the conservation of its leaves.

Rice, as I have elsewhere stated, forms the principal article of food
of the Japanese people. Japan at present does not produce quite
sufficient rice for the consumption of her population, and a large
quantity has, accordingly, to be imported. The danger of this for an
island country has been quite as often emphasised by Japanese
statesmen as the similar danger in respect of the wheat supply of
Great Britain has been by English economists. Many practical steps
have been taken on the initiative of the Japanese Government in the
direction of improving the cultivation of rice, the irrigation of the
fields, &c. As time goes on no doubt the food of the people will
become more varied. Indeed, there has been a movement in that
direction, especially in the large towns. A nation which largely lives
on one article of diet, the production of which is subject to the
vicissitudes of good and bad harvests, is, it must be admitted, not in
a satisfactory position in reference to the food of i