THE HARVEST OF JAPAN.*
ONE of the most attractive things in Mr. Luffmann's " book of curious travel " in Japan is his description of the Japanese tree. craft. The art of developing these miniature trees, of beautiful or fantastic shapes, has now acquired a commercial value, and therefore the Japanese are somewhat reticent about the secret of the craft, but Mr. Luffmann's investigations and observa- tions were sufficient to provide many interesting details as to soil, conditions of growth, and methods of development. Mr. Luffmann cavils at the use of the term " dwarf " trees. " If they were natural dwarfs there would be little art and less reason in making a study and employment of them." Nor, again, is the Japanese tree-man satisfied with a small tree ; "there is nothing wonderful or clever or beautiful in that. The Japanese tree-man desires to reproduce the largest trees and scenes in Nature on a small scale for convenience and economy. Also he wishes to make something so convincingly true and beautiful as to engage himself more and more to the object of his own artistic conception."
Mr. Luffmann was atraveller out of the beaten track. He went far inland, and in the North and in the South he lived among the people, and has a good deal to say about agricultural condi- tions that will be new to readers of Japanese travel and, indeed, to many travellers. It is an unattractive picture he draws, of crude methods and incessant toil, and a peasantry unsmiling and poverty-ridden. But a far different one could be drawn, he maintains, if Japan would give to her agricultural development some of the attention she is giving to commercial competition and an ambitious foreign policy. The land, even in the hill country, is full of potential wealth. Japan, quick to imitate the West in her markets, should be equally quick, he maintains, to imitate Western methods of land development. " If Japan is to make the conquest of all conquests let her make war against her band tools, her paddy fields, her thousand thousand idle hills, and fight and subdue them." On this and other matters Mr. Luffmann offers much criticism and advice to the Japanese; indeed, the description " An Open Letter " might with justice have been added as a sub-title to the whole book rather than W one chapter as now. Some of the criticism and advice is sound enough, and all of it is given with the greatest friendliness and tact, but we cannot help feeling that on the whole its usefulness is somewhat discounted by the extravagant lengths to which it is carried.
• The Heroes! of Jaya.. By C. Bogue Luffmann. London T. 0. and B. C.
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