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122
KOREA

pulverises the grain sufficiently for the coarse cakes which serve in lieu of bread.


POUNDING GRAIN
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.

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 inun-