Beyond the bull and the pig, there are few farm animals in the inland districts. The pony and the donkey are not employed in agricultural work to the same extent as the bull. This latter animal is cared for more humanely than the unfortunate pony, whose good nature is ruined by the execrable harshness with which he is treated. The gross cruelty of the Korean to his pony is the most loathsome feature of the national life.
POUNDING GRAIN
Irrigation is necessary only for the rice, which yields fairly abundant crops throughout Central and Southern Korea. To the north, rice makes way for millet, the great supplementary food of Korea. Elsewhere paddy-fields abound, and the people have become adepts in the principles of irrigation and the art of conserving water. Rice is sown in May, transplanted from the nurseries to the paddy-fields in June, and gathered in October. In times of drought, when it is necessary to tide over the period of distress, the fields are used for barley, oats and rye which, ripening in May and cut in June, allows a supplementary crop to be taken from the fields. The fields are then prepared for the rice. The land is inundated; the peasant and his bull, knee-deep in water, plough the patches. Beans, peas, and potatoes are planted between the furrows of the cornfields, the land being made to produce to its full capacity. The crops are usually excellent.
The fields differ from the farms in China, where the farmers, preferring short furrows, grow their crops in small sections. The long furrows of the Korean fields recall Western methods, but here the analogy ends. The spectacle of these well-ordered acres is a revelation of the earnest way in which these down-trodden people combat adversity. In many ways, however, they need assistance and advice. If it were prudent to accomplish it, I would convert the mission centres of the inland districts into experimental farm-stations, and attach a competent demonstrator to each establishment.
CARRYING PRODUCE TO MARKET
The Koreans hold rice, their chief cereal, in peculiar honour. They state that it originated in Ha-ram, in China, at a period now involved in much fable and mystery—2838 B.C. to 2698 B.C. The name, Syang-nong-si, itself means Marvellous Agriculture. The name was doubtless given at a later time. The first rice was brought to Korea by Ki-ja in 1122 B.C. together with barley and other cereals. Before that time the only grain raised in Korea was millet. There are three kinds of rice in Korea, with a variety of sub-species. First, that which is grown in the ordinary paddy-fields. This is called specifically tap-kok, or paddy-field rice. It is used almost exclusively to make pap, the ordinary boiled rice. Then we have chun-kok or field-rice. This is so-called upland rice. It is drier than the paddy-field rice, and is used largely in making rice flour and in brewing beer. The third kind is grown exclusively on the slopes of mountains, and is a wild rice. It is smaller and harder than the other kinds; for this reason it is used to provision garrisons. It will withstand the weather. Under favourable circumstances, lowland rice will keep five years, but the mountain rice will remain perfectly sound for quite ten years.
Next in importance to rice come the different kinds of pulse, under which heading is included all the leguminous plants, the bean and the pea family. That Korea is well provided with this valuable and nutritious form of food will be seen from the fact that there are thirteen species of round beans, two kinds of long bean, and five varieties of mixed bean. Of all these numerous assortments, the “horse-bean” is by far the most common. It is the bean which forms such a large part of the exports of Korea. It is supposed by Koreans to have originated in North-Western China, and derives its name from the fact that it is used very largely for fodder. One variety only may be regarded as indigenous—the black-bean—and it is found nowhere else in Eastern Asia. Of the rest, the origin is doubtful. The horse-bean grows in greatest abundance in Kyöng-syang Province and on the island of Quelpart, though of course it is common all over the country. The black-bean flourishes best in Chyöl-la Province. The green-bean, oil-bean, and white-cap bean flourish in Kyöng-keui Province. The yellow bean is found in Hwang-hai Province; the South River bean appears in Chyung-chyöng Province; the grandfather-bean (so called because of its wrinkles) grows anywhere, but not in large quantities. The brown-bean and chestnut-bean come from Kang-won Province.
It would be difficult to over-estimate the importance of these different species of pulse to the Korean. They furnish the oily and nitrogenous elements which are lacking in rice. As a diet they are strengthening, the nutritious properties of the soil imparting a tone to the system. Preparations of beans are as numerous as the dishes made from flour; it is impossible to enumerate them. Upon an average, the Koreans eat about one-sixth as much pulse as rice. The price of beans is one-half that of rice; the price of either article is liable to variations. There are varieties which cost nearly as much as rice.