NOTES AND QUERIES. I05 



In Austria the tree nurseries are at the foot of the mountains 

 where the trees are to be planted, and so it should be in this 

 country. Denmark, after the disastrous German war of 1864, 

 laid the foundation of new and prosperous conditions in her 

 country districts by " Reafforesting the heather lands of Jutland 

 and draining the bogs and irrigating the upland heaths," chiefly 

 through the educational departments. The same spirit and 

 enthusiasm is possible in this country, and should be stimulated 

 by co-operation with the State, colleges, and education depart- 

 ments, and the arboricultural societies, and with all interested in 

 the needs of the country and the rural population. 



Andrew Hamilton, 



The Forestry Industry of Japan. 



The Japanese Empire, being a mountainous country, is rich 

 in forests, which, since the islands extend over almost 30 degrees 

 of latitude from north to south, contain a great variety of trees, 

 comprising not only trees of temperate climes, but those of a 

 subtropical climate in Taiwan and subarctic climate in Karafuto. 

 In Japan proper alone there are some thirty kinds of good 

 timber trees, and over two hundred varieties if we include all 

 others which may be called subsidiary timber trees. 



(a) In Japan proper the area under forest amounts to 

 47,264,000 acres, being about one-half of the entire area of the 

 country. If to this be added the 5,447,000 acres of wild lands 

 igen-ya), which will hereafter be afforested, the total area of 

 forests and wild lands will form 65 per cent, of the entire area. 

 Of the total forest lands, 9 per cent, belong to the Imperial 

 household, 38 per cent, to the State, 17 per cent, to public 

 communities, 35 per cent, to private owners, i per cent, to 

 temples. Classified according to the objects for which the 

 forests are maintained, 5*4 per cent, belong to the class called 

 the Hoanrin, or "safeguarding forests," i.e. forests maintained 

 not mainly for profit, but for the protection of the neighbour- 

 hood against floods, hurricanes, etc., while 94-6 per cent, are 

 utilisation forests, that is, maintained for timber and other 

 forestry products. 



The Japanese authorities have always taken an interest in 

 the protection and preservation of forests and woodlands. As 

 early as the tenth century, we read of the Emperor Ojin first 



