cement lined cisterns or sheltered reservoirs for collecting manures
and preparing fertilizers and the appearance of both soil and crops
showed in a marked manner to what advantage. We passed a garden of
nearly an acre entirely devoted to English violets just coming into
full bloom. They were grown in long parallel east and west beds
about three feet wide. On the north edge of each bed was erected a
rice-straw screen four feet high which inclined to the south,
overhanging the bed at an angle of some thirty-five degrees, thus
forming a sort of bake-oven tent which reflected the sun, broke the
force of the wind and checked the loss of heat absorbed by the soil.

The voyage from Kobe to Moji was made between 10 in the morning,
February 24th, and 5 .30 P. M. of February 25th over a quiet sea
with an enjoyable ride. Being fogbound during the night gave us the
whole of Japan's beautiful Inland Sea, enchanting beyond measure, in
all its near and distant beauty but which no pen, no brush, no
camera may attempt. Only the eye can convey. Before reaching harbor
the tide had been rising and the strait separating Honshu from
Kyushu island was running like a mighty swirling river between Moji
and Shimonoseki, dangerous to attempt in the dark, so we waited
until morning.

There was cargo to take on board and the steamer must coal. No
sooner had the anchor dropped and the steamer swung into the current
than lighters came alongside with out-going freight. The small,
strong, agile Japanese stevedores had this task completed by 8:30 P.
M. and when we returned to the deck after supper another scene was
on. The cargo lighters had gone and four large barges bearing 250
tons of coal had taken their places on opposite sides of the
steamer, each illuminated with buckets of blazing coal or by burning