抄録
1. The area of Shimofusa upland, a part of the dilluvial upland in Kanto district, speading over in “V” letter shape in the northern part of Chiba Prefecture, is a region where the pasture land for horse breeding had been reclaimed since the beginning of the Meiji era (1870-), and it is now one of the larg_??_st upland arable field areas in the plain of Kanto.
2. On this arable upland, upland rice, sweet potatoes and miscellaneous cereals are generally grown as summer crops, and barley and wheat as winter ones. Besides these, in the western part of it (the western Shimofusa upland region), vegetables are grown for marketing to Tokyo, while in the eastern part (the eastern Shimofusa upland region) industrial crops such as peanuts, barley for beer-brewingand other cash crops, for instances, vegetable seeds are grown rather extensively. In the central portion of the latter, peanuts are grown so widely as to make them the most important cash crops for the farmers.
3. The reason that the industrial crops are dominant in the eastern Shimofusa upland region, and truck farming has scarcely carried on, despite the favourable transportation facilities to Tokyo, is that the size of farming in acreage is remarkably bigger than that of other areas. Analyzing the agricultural statistics of cities, towns and villages in this upland, the coefficients of correlation between the percentage (c) of the area devoted to seven kinds of industrial crops, in which peanuts, tobaccoplant and mulberry are included, and the percentage (s1, s2, s3) of number of farm households (s1<0.5 ha, s2_??_1.0 ha, s3_??_1.5 ha, ) classified by the size of farming are as follows; r(c, S1)=0.39, r(c, s2)=0.51, (c, s3)=0.57
4. Since the end of World War II, the farming in the core area of peanuts growing had been, for a time, in a more satisfactory condition than that in other area in Chiba Pref., for instance, than that of dairly farming in the southern area. This was mainly attained by the high price of peanuts.
5. Since 1953, however, the demand of peanuts as the substitutes for candy and butter has decreased and the the import of Chinese peanuts has begun, the price has come down strikingly to a lower level. The price of other industrial crops has also the same tendency. Therefore, the farmers in the core area have come to realize that they have to introduce new elements such as vegetable growing or dairy or both two to their farming.
6. If the farmers want to introduce such new branches, they have to plan to raise the level of their labour efficiency, especially in busy periods. This can only be realized by the applcation of live-stock power or farming machines, for instance, hand tractors or small shape cultivators, which were not used before. Such implements are presumed to obtain economically by the farmers who have more than 1.0-1.5 ha of cultivated area. From this respect numerous farm households in the core area are to be expected to take in such implements easily in future.
7. If the level of their labour efficiency is raised by application of the above implements and both vegetable growing and dairy are positively carried on, it is sure that the gain from their farming will be greatly increased. Transportation to and from Tokyo can be facilitated by using small trucks. It is considered that the farming of this region is thus enabled to get out the condition of so-called “Agricultural Backward Area.”
