734 



CONSERVATION 



with a two-foot gauge run by gravity 

 to take the logs from the logging area 

 to the main stream, a distance of five 

 miles. The logging area itself is so 

 steep that an elaborate system of stops 

 and slides has to be constructed to get 

 the logs down. And they fell the trees 

 across the slope instead of up or down 

 for convenience in peeling and for the 

 safety of the men. 



The working plan and system of syl- 

 viculture would compare favorably with 

 almost any in Europe except that, per- 

 haps, the formulas used for figuring 

 the annual area and volume to cut were 

 rather crude, considering the intensity 

 of the rest of the management. 



The oidy criticism of the system is 

 the rigidity with which it is applied. 

 \'cry steep, rocky slopes on which the 

 forest should be managed as protection 

 forest under some system which would 

 keep the crown cover intact, are clear- 

 cut and planted. The result is that on 

 large parts of such slopes the cutting 

 destroys the forest conditions so that 

 fdanting becomes impossible. This 

 point, however, may be looked at in 

 another way. Under any system of nat- 

 ural reproduction the valuable Shinoki 

 would be crowded out by the inferior 

 Shiba on account of the poor power of 

 reproduction of the Shinoki and ex- 

 cellent reproduction of the Shiba. 

 Hence, from a strictly financial point 

 of view, it may pay better to get a 

 patchy forest of Shinoki than a solid 

 one of Shiba. 



IV TRAININC. 



Before taking up the state forests it 

 will be well to give some idea of the 

 kind of training which foresters re- 

 ceive in Japan. 



There is no regular forest school as 

 such, but forestry is taught as one of 

 four parallel courses in the College of 

 Agriculture in the University of Tokyo. 

 The four parallel courses are: (i) Agri- 

 culture, (2) agricultural chemistry, 

 (3) forestry, and (4) veterinary medi- 

 cine. Of course, this is the same thing 

 as having a forest school. 



The staff consists of five professors, 

 three assistant professors, and one lec- 



turer on law. These men are for for- 

 estry alone, not for the other courses 

 as well. 



The course extends over three years, 

 covering very completely all the sub- 

 jects in technical forestry, and the al- 

 lied sciences. Before entering the for- 

 estry course, a man must have been 

 three years in a "higher school." Thi> 

 is not like our "high schools," but much 

 more advanced, more like our ordinary 

 colleges. A man is generally about 

 twenty when he graduates from one of 

 these higher schools and enters the uni- 

 versity. Thus the course in forestry is 

 practically a post-graduate one and is 

 built on a good, broad foundation. In 

 addition to the four parallel courses 

 mentioned above, there are three sub- 

 sidiary courses in agriculture, forestry, 

 and veterinary medicine. For forestrv 

 this subsidiary course extends over 

 three years, has the same staff of in- 

 structors as the higher course, and prac- 

 tically the same subjects. The only 

 difference is that the three years in the 

 higher school are not required before 

 entering (admission being by competi- 

 tive examination), and therefore there 

 is not the same foundation to build on. 

 Unfortunateh', there is a rush for the 

 subsidiary course, three times as many 

 applying as can be admitted, while there 

 are not enough for the higher course. 

 The courses, both higher and subsid- 

 iary, are all influenced by German 

 methods, and even a certain amount of 

 teaching is in the German language. All 

 the technical phraseology is German. 



The university is very fortunate in 

 the matter of college forests, owning 

 five in all, aggregating 206,509 acres. 

 Of these, one of 5,421 acres is within 

 easy reach of Tokyo, and serves for 

 giving the men practical field training. 

 Of the others, one of 57,000 acres is on 

 the Island of Hokkaido, or Yezo, to the 

 north, and serves only as a field for 

 special investigations of the individual 

 students or professors, and the other, of 

 144,000 acres, is on the Island of For- 

 mosa, and is practically untouched. 

 Alost of the vacations are spent in tour- 

 ing through the different forests of the 

 country. 



