“Korea,” says the _Seoul Press_, “is essentially an agricultural country. Eighty per cent. of her population till the soil, and stinted as are the returns which the soil is willing to yield under the present method of cultivation, the produce from land constitutes at least ninety per cent. of the annual income of the country. To improve the lot of the toiling millions on the farms is therefore to improve the lot of virtually the whole nation. It was in recognition of this obvious fact that Marquis Ito, in addressing the leading editors of Tokyo, in February, 1906, previous to his departure for Korea to assume the duties of his newly appointed post as Resident-General, laid particular emphasis on the urgent importance of introducing agricultural improvements in this country. This question was consequently the very first to engage the serious attention of the authorities of the Residency-General.”[58] The statistics for the year ending December 31, 1906, show that out of an amount of taxes estimated at 6,422,744 _yen_, the sum of 5,208,228 _yen_ was apportioned to the land tax, and 234,096 _yen_ to the house tax. The difficulty of collecting the taxes, either through the corruption of the officials, or by reason of the inability or inexcusable and often violent resistance of the people, can be estimated by the fact that, of the land tax 2,214,823+ _yen_ was still “outstanding,” and of the house tax, 68,794+ _yen_.[59] The institution of an Experimental Station and Agricultural School at Suwon has already been described (p. 122 _f._). But in order to accomplish the needed development of Korea’s agricultural resources, the peasant farmers must themselves be induced to reform their methods of cultivation. As might be expected, however, the Korean peasant farmer is suspicious of all attempts to improve his wasteful methods, is extremely “conservative” (a much-abused word) in his habits, and slow to learn. Some good work has, however, already been done by way of opening his eyes. The example of the Model Farm, which is limited to one locality, is supplemented by the example of the Japanese farmers who are settling in numerous localities. To take an instance: improved Japanese rice seed was distributed _gratis_ in various parts of the country. But even then it was necessary to guarantee the farmers against loss in order to induce them to try the experiment of cultivating it. The result of the experiment was most encouraging. The yield was in every case greater than that obtained from the native seed; in some cases the gain in the product being as much as from six to ten _tō_ (3-5 bushels) per _tan_ (¼ acre). Similar experiments are now in progress with the seed of barley and wheat, imported from Japan, America, and Europe.