Page:Korea (1904).djvu/176

124 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