702 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Unloading Baby Car 

 these are much used in lumbering operations. this photograph was taken on the odate minor forest 



JAPAN 



example, with an area of 26,215 acres 

 and a total estimate of 600 million feet 

 B.]M., cuts annually, on a 100 to 120 

 year rotation, according to Commander 

 C. Omikiyama, 7.2 million feet; which 

 is twice the amount prescribed by the 

 working plans, due to the economic 

 conditions of the country at the time. 

 This forest is divided into seven cutting 

 districts and fifty different forest types, 

 which are all shown on the map. A 

 complete map and estimate had been 

 prepared of the first division of the 

 Utchimappu on an intensive scale. A 

 total area of 8,011 acres had been 

 covered, and each tree calipered at an 

 aggregated cost of 40 cents per acre. 

 On the second division of the same 

 forest, the cost was reduced to 25 cents 

 per acre, and on still another area it 

 took twenty men ten months to survey 

 12,900 acres of timberland. 



Reconnaissance on the National For- 

 ests in the United States usually covers 

 less than 10 per cent of the area, an 

 expense rarely exceeding 5 cents per 



acre. While it is far from my intention 

 to advocate similar 100 per cent work 

 in this country, I think it is particularly 

 interesting to note that the Japanese 

 Government realizes the value of the 

 work to such an extent, and feels 

 justified in authorizing this large expen- 

 diture, where stumpage values are only 

 twice as high as in this country. 



All trees are marked prior to cutting. 

 One of the marking tools has an em- 

 bossed Japanese steel insignia on one 

 end, and is heated so as to burn the 

 brand into the wood. 



The most accessible forests are repro- 

 duced artificially. This is the case on 

 the Odate Minor Forest, where they 

 cut clear, burn the area and plant; but 

 both Utchimappu and Owani Forests 

 as well as the forests on Hokkaido 

 depend mainly on natural reproduction. 

 They attempt to attain the latter 

 through various systems of cutting and 

 soil preparation. On the Utchimappu, 

 where the forest consists principally 

 of a pure stand of hiba, the Shelterwood 



