July
1929

By chance we made a stop that afforded us some utterly mysterious sights. In front of us was a field of peculiar plants. On closer inspection the plants turned out to be flax, but a kind of flax with white flowers, narrow petals and white seeds [Linum usitatissimum L. var. albiflorae Vav.]. All colours of the flax had been drained from it. Instead of the blue-flowered, brown-seeded type, it had become an albino race of its own. And, in addi­tion, there were both yellow- and white-fleshed carrots! The same general pattern also prevailed among the wild flora, which was exceptionally poor, as if it had been reduced in numbers, genera and colours. For instance, the camel’s thorn [Alhagi maurorum] with red flowers had here become white-flowered or, rather, it had pale yellow flowers.

Our investigations definitely pointed to the role of inbreeding and to selection of so-called genetically recessive forms as a result of the isolation of the Chinese Turkestan oases. Barriers such as the Pamirs, the Kun’-Lun’ and Tien-Shan ranges and the Himalayas, as well the Takla-Makan desert prevent both wild and cultivated floras from entering. Only fragments of them have reached the oases, where over a long period of time they have been transformed into variants of the original kinds, like the white-flowered and white-seeded species mentioned above. Wheat, barley and rice are also represented here by pale-coloured forms. In other words, this is like Inner Asia, only with poor and impoverished survivors, reduced in colour. There is no basis whatsoever for stating, as Solms-Laubach did, that Central Asia is the homeland of the bread grains. On the contrary, there is no doubt that only secondary, adopted, impoverished and reduced forms are found here.

1929

At the suggestion of the rector of the University of Taiwan I gave a lecture in English about the origin of cultivated plants. The audience of professors and students displayed an extraordinary interest and from their questions it was possible to judge that the gist of the lecture had been understood.

At the trial station for fruit growing at Taihoku, Formosa. In the pots you can see experiments with pineapples. In the foreground are Dr Tanaka and the station director Dr Suzota. Taiwan, 1929

In the waiting room at the railroad station almost the entire university staff assembled. At the same time as I was leaving for Korea, a professor of geology was leaving for a 3-year-long mission to Europe and America on behalf of the university. His itinerary covered three quarters of the world. Together with him I studied the plan for his mission, which would be the envy of any geologist of world renown. The preparation of students, utilizing all the research in the world, is given exceptional importance in Japan. Such missions are not unique but common, a normal event in university life there.

After reaching the harbour, I went by sea from Taiwan to the peninsula of Korea.

1929

The enormous possibilities for growing rice in the Soviet Far East are entirely linked to the use of Japanese kinds of rice distinguished by extreme standards of early ripening. There is no other country in the world where so much has been done for the study of rice as in Japan, although the majority of the studies have been published as monographs in Japanese. Insofar as problems concerning the standardization of the rice grains and the preservation of the germinating power of the rice, so important for the Far East, have been elucidated by Japanese scientists, we have much to learn from the Japanese.

Within the area of sericulture, the success of the Japanese is absolutely exceptional. Thanks to breeding, many very productive kinds of mulberry trees have been obtained. The selection of triploid races of silkworms, which to a great extent show gigantism, is of very great practical interest. The appearance of heterosis in the first generation of hybrids has also been utilized in Japan to a great extent with respect to the silkworm eggs themselves. Papers reporting studies of the numerous mutations of rice and the bud mutations of mandarin oranges are of extreme theoretical and practical interest.

Rice-growing regions in the former Soviet Union

Above all, Japanese science is the key to the study of ancient agricultural crops in southeastern Asia and of the original cultivation of plants and animals. The role of eastern Asia in the origin of domesticated animals and cultivated plants has not yet been evaluated in respect of its importance. Our studies during the last couple of years have demonstrated the enormous importance of China as a basis for the development of many vegetables, fruits and field crops. China holds the key to the solution of problems concerning the origin of the majority of vegetable plants, including many fruit trees as well as crops such as rice, soyabeans and millet. The selective potential of the variety of genes, forms and species is exceptionally high here. The largest number of cultivated species of plants is perhaps concentrated within southeastern Asia. Since China, with its amazing ancient crops, is more accessible to Japan (because Chinese characters are used in its literature) than any other country, there is no doubt that a better acquaintance with Japanese science would make it possible for science in general to cope with the crops of China and those of all southeastern Asia.

1929

Within the field of agriculture a number of Japanese scientific results are also of primary importance for our own Soviet nation. If possible, we must soon adopt much from Japan. Our Black Sea coast is, indeed, a ‘second Japan’ with respect to climate and soils. A large amount of cultivated plants, originating from Japan, could easily be transferred to our humid subtropics: Batumi, Sukhumi and Sochi. An enormous opportunity is opening up in the near future for our humid subtropics with respect to the cultivation of tea, ramie [Boehmeria nivea [L.] Gaud.], mandarin oranges, bamboo, subtropical oil plants and camphor trees [Cinnamomum camphora Sieb.], to a great extent linked to research carried out in Japan and Formosa. The research institute for cultivation of tea at Shizuoka [Taiwan], which has been active for about 20 years, has done highly valuable research into many problems concerning the cultivation of tea. Within the area of fruit farming and the improvement of strains by breeding, much of the research done in Japan can be transferred to our country. The Japanese are excellent plant breeders. The Sakurajima radishes (known to reach a weight of almost 20 kg), remarkable kinds of so-called Seville oranges [Citrus aurantium L.], large-fruited plums, their unsurpassed results of breeding chrysanthemums, a multitude of Japanese decorative trees, flowering cherry trees and colourful maples all this can easily be brought over to the Soviet subtropics and even to other areas.

1929

The collection and study of the array of cultivated plants demonstrated before one’s own eyes the decidedly special character of the cultivated flora, which no doubt has originated independently from the ancient agricultural crops of southwestern Asia. Hundreds of plants seem to be endemic in China and Japan. The majority of these plants still have wild relatives in either China or Japan. There is an absolutely amazing wealth of wild fruits: cherries, plums, apricots, apples and pears. Here, the introduced crops of barley, rice and wheat have been subjected to great changes by the monsoon climate, which has led to development of special subspecies or peculiar groups. Heavy showers, falling in the middle of the summer and promoting destruction through fungal diseases, have therefore led to natural and artificial selection, which in eastern Asia has taken very different forms, such as quickly forming grains and lengthening or shortening of the awns, or grains of small size. Barley and wheat are distinguished by low growth, small grains, small-size ears and developmental differences.

In spite of its limited territory Japan has about 80 million inhabitants [in 1929], that is, twice as many as Great Britain or France. The general area under cultivation is determined to be 20 million hectares, of which rice takes first place, followed by wheat and barley. An enormous area is occupied by citrus fruits, pears and quince, which form the general background of the villages. In Japan mandarin and other oranges correspond to apples in Europe. Whole baskets of first-class mandarins (of the ‘unshu’ brand) are sold for unbelievably low prices.

Just like the Chinese centre of agriculture, Japan is characterized by a large number of plants, which include representatives both of the moderate subtropics and, particularly in the south, of the tropical zone as well. The vegetable as well the animal food of the Japanese and the Chinese, especially the latter, is extremely variable in respect of composition: shoots of various species of bamboo, a multitude of cultivated water plants including Zizania latifolia [Griseb.] Turcz. a grass, cultivated for its diseased, inflated leaf sheaths, edible burdock [Arctium lappa L.], peculiar kinds of cabbages, radishes, a multitude of dishes made of soyabeans (substituting for fat and including a cheese called ‘tofu,’ a soya product) and a lot of fruits prepared in all possible ways. This is the common composition of the vegetable food of the Chinese and the Japanese.

As far as the wealth of endemic species of cultivated plants is concerned, Japan and China can be singled out among the other ancient agricultural centres of the world. Each of these species is, as a rule, represented by a large number of varieties. The varieties of soyabeans, ‘adzuki’ beans [Vigna angularis [Wild.] Ohwi & H. Obashi] and persimmons [Diospyros kaki L. f.], as well as of citrus fruits, amount, literally, to many hundreds of easily distinguishable forms. If, in addition to the cultivated plants, the large number of wild plants utilized in China are taken into account it becomes more understandable how the hundreds of millions of inhabitants can exist there.

1929

One of the objectives of the expedition was to see the island of Sakurajima, the native land of the Sakurajima radishes, which are masterpieces of plant breeding. After reaching Kagoshima, where there is a small university, I talked to a professor of plant breeding with whom I went to Sakurajima the following day. The time could not have been better chosen. The radishes were just being harvested. I saw an exceptional sight. The best specimens of the Sakurajima radishes reach the weight of a pond [16 kg] and even more. On a wheelbarrow, by means of which the harvest must be taken away, there is room for only two or three of these radishes. Seen from a distance, one could mistake these vegetables for suckling pigs. Later on, at an exhibition in Seoul, Korea, I saw radishes which were two metres long and had been grown in light, littoral soils. We walked all over the island of Sakurajima, through some ten villages and tried to understand what had caused such a miracle to develop. Apparently, it is all matter of loose and fertile basaltic soils and persistent selection. The professor himself was unable to furnish any explanation concerning the development of this radish. It had been raised by the peasants of this island and selected under favourable conditions. That is all that can be said about this extreme variant. The Japanese peasants, plant breeders by nature, have skillfully combined their knowledge of the environment with a capacity for observation, so necessary for selection.

Photograph by Aaron Hertzmann.

1929

In Kyoto I met the famous cytogeneticist Kihara, an extremely productive worker within the field of wheat genetics, whose work has led to discoveries of first-class importance. …

The history of the earth is recorded in the layers of its crust;
the history of all organisms is inscribed in the chromosomes.
Hitoshi Kihara, 1946

When in Kyoto I had also an opportunity to study the large collection of rice, collected from all over the world by Professor Kato. It was evident that the maximum diversity of forms and varieties were concentrated not in Japan or in China, but in India. I was also able to observe peculiar crops of an arrowhead [Sagittaria trifolia L.], grown for its diseased, globular rhizomes. When not diseased the stalks themselves are not edible. When affected they become juicier, acquire a special taste and appear to be one of the common species, eaten by both the Chinese and the Japanese peoples.

1929

The peculiarity of the Japanese climate and the intensity of Japanese plant breeding have led to significant changes in cultivated plants introduced both from southeastern Asia, India and even America. Pumpkins [Curcurbita moschata [Duch.] Poir.], undoubtedly introduced from America, have been made small, fast-ripening and are covered with characteristic warts. Eggplants, apparently obtained from southeastern India, differ by having exceptional, small fruits. It is difficult to enumerate all the kinds of spices and medicinal plants.

We went to Sijuoki, the main area for cultivation of tea in Japan. The area has coniferous forests of cryptomerias [Cryptomeria japonica D. Don.], lots of hills and red soils. On large cleared tracts, endless rows of globe-shaped tea bushes, carefully trimmed, are lined up. The harvest of tea [Camellia sinensis [L.] O. Kuntze] is done by means of special scissors. This crop is centuries old. The bushes last for 100-200 years. The typical Japanese tea is small-leaved. As an industry, the tea business is highly regarded as a result of careful grading and sorting of the tea into many classes, sensitive price-setting and the use of machines for this. In essence, there has so far been no breeding; natural populations, selected out over thousand of years, are cultivated. The bushes are fertilized with liquid manure, and carefully trimmed.

When in the area of Sijuoki I could not help but think of the expeditions to the tea-growing areas around Batumi [on the coast of the Black Sea], where by now the landscape really resembles that of Sijuoki as far as the Japanese cryptomerias, the Japanese bamboo [Pseudosasa japonica Mak.] and the Japanese and Chinese tea bushes are concerned.

The Chinese foreman of a tea factory in Chavka, near Batumi,
photographed some time between 1905 and 1915.

Earlier our country had acquired a considerable amount of Japanese green tea in addition to Indian tea. For a long time the Japanese did not believe that Soviet tea is a serious reality. However, after I bought a large quantity of seeds for use in our country, representatives sent from the tea associations in Sijuoki acquainted themselves with the tea-growing areas along the Black Sea coast and became convinced that many areas, especially Adzharya, really resemble Japan. No doubt the time is not far away when the Soviet Union can manage without Japanese tea.

Photograph, from the Library of Congress by the amazingly talented Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.

The cultivation of rice reaches not only Sapporo but much farther north, as far, according to professors in Sapporo, as to 50-60 degrees northern latitude. These are the fastest-ripening kinds of rice. It was necessary to somehow obtain samples of it for cultivation of rice in the Soviet north. However, in contrast to Americans and Europeans, the Japanese were very stingy. As a matter of fact, we were refused any. They pointed to the necessity of obtaining a special permit from the government. In other words, the usual story again, the well-known diplomatic delay. Later on, at an exhibition in Korea, we obtained a large quantity of the necessary rice from Sakhalin. At this exhibition all parts of the Japanese dominion were represented.

The rice [Oryza sativa L.] of Japan consists mainly of white-flowered types without awns. As demonstrated by subsequent research, a whole series of transitions can be seen from late to early-ripening varieties, which can advance to the farthest north of Japan.

Hops [Humulus lupulus L.] are cultivated on the island of Hokkaido. A lot of actinidia fruits [Actinidia chinensis Planck.], reminiscent in taste of European gooseberries, were sold in the market places. We did not find them to be cultivated here. Apparently they were distributed only in the wild form. With Professor Akemine I saw for the first time in the wild the Japanese burdock [Arctium lappa L.], the vegetable plant called ‘konjaku‘ [Amorphophallus rivieri Dur. var. konjac [Schott], Engl.] and butter-bur [Petasites japonicus [Sieb. Zucc.] Maxim.].

1929

When I left Tokyo for the field, I found myself in the peculiar world of the East Asiatic cultivated flora. In general, Japan is characterized by a large amount of precipitation and a coastal, maritime climate. Conditions are favourable for agricultural crops. The country is mountainous; the volcano Fujisan, or Fujiyama, reaches an altitude of 4600 metres and is covered by eternal snow at the summit. From time to time it erupts and lava floods the villages surrounding it. The uniqueness of Japan, with its subtropical climate over a large part of its territory, makes year-round vegetation feasible. In the autumn barley and wheat are sown and in May rice; in June the harvest of ordinary bread grains and cereals takes place and in November and December that of rice and citrus fruits. At the same time the pears ripen and in February and March the loquat already bears fruit. Almost every month some things are sown and some things are harvested.

A typical difference from northern Europe is the extremely early flowering of many fruit trees in Japan as well as in China. Chinese and Japanese magnolias flower in January and February, even before the leaves sprout. The fruiting cherry trees ‘sakura’ flower during spring and early summer. In addition to all these, all possible kinds of decorative cherry trees with pink or white blossoms and sometimes double blossoms are widely distributed. Villages and cities are planted with avenues lined by such cherry trees. The flowering of the cherry trees is a national festival. Hundreds of verse lines are devoted to this wonderfully beautiful sight. ‘The sakura is in bloom’ is synonymous with spring.

When the autumn approaches, there are new colours and new flowers. The steep slopes around Kyoto, actually mountains, are covered with wild maples, which every day take on new colours. At every farm house there are during autumn pots of chrysanthemums, carefully selected by the housewife. It is difficult to imagine a greater variety than that of the Japanese chrysanthemum. Here they fall in large cascades of thousands of small flowers, forming a picture of a torrent; there they are represented by gigantic forms with individual flowers reaching 40-50 in diameter. They also vary in colour and in shape. Every year in the autumn in cities and villages it is possible to go from one chrysanthemum exhibition to another. Farm wives compete with each other in the villages, cities compete with each other and commercial firms compete amongst themselves.