It is quite an unprecedented event in our country that our agricultural policy which had been focussing mainly on the increase of rice production during the past years changed to the adjustment of rice production in terms of decreasing rice growing acreage last year.
As regards the adjustment of rice production in 1970, the government effected a reduction of 10% in rice production. The adaptation thereof had resulted in a great variety in different regions. As of September 20, 1970, the attainment ratio of a decrease in rice growing acreage was 139% as average on a national scale. The range of variation thereof, however, varied very widely from 52% in Kyôto-fu as minimum value to 299% in Hokkaidô as maximum and similarly rather a great difference of the value thereof was observed, if examined critically, within each ‘fu’ or ‘ken’ (administrative units of local government of the country).
In connection with the Hokuriku region, a representative rice growing area of the country, the ratio of production in Fukui-ken, in Ishikawa-ken, and in Toyama-ken was about 130% each, which was very close to the mean ratio on a national scale, except the case in Niigata-ken in which the ratio was as low as 78% compared with other three ken mentioned above.
This paper deals with the ways of adaptability answered to the new policy and describes regional types shown by diagrams, by administrative districts (cities, towns, and villages) in these three ken in the Hokuriku region except Fukui-ken, based on the following items:
(1) Attainment ratio for the allotted target,
(2) Attainment ratio of the following measures to the adjusted acreage
i) ratio attained by lieing fallow
ii) ratio attained by rotation
iiii) ratio attained by land consolidation project
All things considered, it has been confirmed that adaptability attained by fallow was most predominant. There were, however, two exceptional cases to be worthy of mention: the case in the Tonami district (in Toyama-ken) where adaptability was execused by appli-cation of ‘tulipculture’ which is incompatible with rice growing in this district and the case in the Nyûzen district (in Toyama-ken) where adaptability was actualized by year-long execution of land consolidation project.
The reasons why the attainment ratio in the Kambara district (in Niigata-ken) was very low-it is only 15 to 40%, are partly due to a considerably large scale of farm management in this district, and partly due to the peculiar location where farmers have little chance of sidelines.
On the whole, it was observed that the ratio of attainment in mountainous villages had been very high. This fact may be interpreted from the reason why farmers living in such secluded mountainous districts preferred rather to work away from their homes in order to utilize the remainder of their manpower caused by application of fallow for rice growing, for which they got compensation money concerning fallow from the government.
As stated above, it has been fond that regional conditions regarding both ‘economic’ and ‘social’ affairs were strongly reflected, if minutely examined, for adjustment of rice production which seem to have been attained simply.

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Tepeojuma is a Spanish colonial village (municipio) in the Estado de Puebla, about 180krn southeast of Mexico City. This village nestles in a basin surrounded by hills (cerros) and is in the tierra templada. This village has a typical plaza with shade trees (sombra). Around the plaza are concentrated the public office, school and church. On the market day a variety of goods are sold in the plaza. Marketing is held on Thursdays here but in Atlixco and Ma-tamoros near this village it is held twice a week (Tab. 1).
The population of Tepeojuma, like most other Mexican villages, has shown a rapid increase in recent years, but mortality rate has shown both sharp rise and sharp decline alternately (Tab. 5). Most women have many children, thence the average family size is over eight (Tab. 6). Monoculture prevails and very few croplands are irrigated (Tab. 4). Thus the life of this village is unstable. Children of this village have their “substitute papa (padrino) and mama (madrina)” in the nearby town called compadre and compadre respectively. This system (compadrazgo) is characterized by the two sets of formal relation between non-relatives. Rela-tionship between compadres is much more important than between padrinos and ahijados (children in compadrazgo). As the general purpose, padrinos are to provide their ahijados with security. Padrinos usually give their ahijados a few pesos when they come to see them or when they marry, enter or finish school and also in Semana Santa and Todos los Santos. In Tepeojuma, it is thought to be desirable to have a compadre from Matamoros situated very near. It is assumed that the family in the town can be of great help in emergency. This is an essential connection in the rurban community of the Mexican Highland.

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Techniques of the size analysis are often used to distinguish the depositional environme:zts, especially to distinguish aeolian from marine environment. In Japan, many environmental studies by this method have been published since 1945, but the examinations of this method itself is still insufficient. The author examined the usefulness of the size frequency parameters obtained by both graphic and moment methods. Samples were collected from the foreshores, backshores, and the present dunes, and also from the ancient dunes and the ancient horizontally laminated sandbeds, of 34 areas of Japan.
The results are briefly summarized as follows
(1) When we want to require the precise frequency curve and its useful parameters, especially the skewness, it is desirable to sieve with quarter phi grade and weigh each fractions to 5mg, and moreover, it requires that the residual fractions on both the coarsest sieve and the pan fraction should be equal weight and less than 0, 5% weight, if possible, less than 0.01% weight.
(2) The outline of each size frequency distribution is already determined after 10 minutes seining and it gives useful parameters enough to investigate each deposition) environment. (Sample weight: 100 gr.)
(3) Mean, standard deviation and skewness by Inman's equations are no less useful than by Folk and Ward's equations. The complicated calculations by Folk and Ward's equations do not necessarily give better results than the simple calculations by Inman's equations.
(4) Means of quarter phi grade obtained by both graphic methods (Mz, Mφ) are as useful as the mean of whole phi grade by the moment method.
(5) Both graphic standard deviations (σI, σφ) of quarter phi grade have about the same usefulness as the moment whole phi value.
(6) We cannot obtain the precise skewness value by both graphic equations. Therefore, we must calculate it by the moment method with half phi or quarter phi grade.

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Production system in the developed lands in Saitama Prefecture has so far been characte-rized by homogeneity, which has been a gift of the uniform development policy. Later on this homogeneity inn production almost failed to exist, because the change of the demand structure of agricultural products and the progress of urbanization gave rise to the change of the method of cultivating lands and the out-flow of agricultural production factors.
We are now surprised at finding a new method of cultivating lands; the general dry field farming-that of growing rice, wheat, and other grains-has now divided both into that of extensive agriculture saving more labor and that of intensive one using more advanced techniques. And also we are surprised at finding various, regionally specialized types of farm management. At the same time, however, we see that with all these better conditions of land basis they have not yet introduced large scale agricultural machines in order to systematize their productive activity.
The land division and the land ownership of the developed lands are generally characte-rized by their adjusted divisions and the spatially limited relations between lands and their owners; moreover they are specifically characterized by the concentrated ownership of large scale field. These characteristics make it easier for a farmer to purchase a wide area of lands in one lot.
Aided by these conditions, urbanization and industrialization of these developed lands are now in progress. In the relatively backward areas, industrial estates have been constructed under the leadership of the administrative authorities. Urbanization urges many farmers to exchange their ownership of lands among themselves, say, by moving into the newly developed lands or by purchasing a wider area of lands in one lot. These phenomena show us that the developed lands have had a strong effect on the urbanization.

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[in Japanese]

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