696 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Nursery in Northern Japan 

 in the left middle ground is a stack of straw mats. these are used for shielding the young seedlings 



from the hot sun and also in inclement weather 



only twenty species are important from 

 an economic point of view. In spite of 

 this great percentage of forest land, 

 Japan has not enough timber for its 

 own supply and the exportation of val- 

 uable hardwoods is more than equalized 

 by the cheaper grades imported. 



The principal trees among the conifers 

 are pine, fir, spruce, sugi,Hinoki and Hiba. 



The principal trees among the broad- 

 leaved species are birch, several varieties 

 of oak, beech, chestnut, maple, cherry 

 and ash. 



The forests can be divided naturally 

 into four zones; tropical, sub-tropical, 

 temperate and frigid. 



The forests are classified according to 

 ownership as follows: 



Crown Forests 1,775,000 acres 



State Forests 10,850,000 acres 



Public Forests 12,250,000 acres 



Temple Forests 850,000 acres 



Private Forests 30,400,000 acres 



Total 56,125,000 acres 



The forests of Hokkaido and Formosa 

 are not included in the above classifica- 

 tion, because they are managed entirely 

 by the local governments. 



The Crown Forests are subject to the 

 control of the Department of Imperial 

 Household. 



The State Forests are under control 

 of the Department of Agriculture and 

 Commerce of which the Forestry Bureau 

 is a branch. The administration is 

 regulated by the Law of State Forests 

 and Unused Land of 1899, but the 

 Forestry Bureau itself was founded by 

 virtue of an Imperial ordinance of 1886. 



The forests belonging to public cor- 

 porations, temples and private indi- 

 viduals are subject to the supervision 

 of the Department of Agriculture and 

 Commerce in accordance with the 

 provisions of the Forestry Law. This 

 law was passed in 1897 and provides 

 rules regarding the management of 

 timberland in general. 



