Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/35

Rh agree that the clay is sticky enough to make pipes or anything else that is made of sticky clay. Notwithstanding the clay, the soil is productive, and abundant crops of rice are to be found growing in the very midst of this plain; while everywhere, even to the very tops of the highest mountains surrounding the plain, grass grows in such profusion that it appears like a great ocean of waving green. On this plain alone thousands of cattle could be reared and pastured every year with little or no expense save looking after them.

The products of the farm are many, but the standard is rice, which takes the place of bread, and, I might add, largely of meat also. This is cultivated in all parts of the country where the land will admit of it, of course always depending upon the water supply, for without water it cannot be successfully grown. In parts of the country the water supply is abundant, but the surface of the land is so hilly that no level fields can be made, and in such places rice culture is out of the question. In such sections the people depend largely on millet, oats, peas, beans, and such other grains as grow well on hillsides. Often I have seen farmers at work on the side of mountains that seemed too steep for one to walk. In many parts wheat and barley are grown in considerable quantities, the barley being boiled and eaten like rice, while the most of the wheat finds its way into the hands of the beer and whisky makers. Next to the rice crop the bean ranks highest in importance; for what the rice is to man the bean is to the pony and the cow, taking the place of corn as the principal food for stock.