CRYPTOMERIA JAPONICA. 



265 



The Cryptomeria is one of the finest trees in Japan ; it is seen 

 almost everywhere throughout Hondo from north to south except on 

 the highest part of the mountains ; it is more used for reafforesting 

 the denuded lands than any other tree, and extensive areas on the 

 foot-hills and mountain slopes up to 3,000 feet elevation above sea-level 

 have been planted with it for the sake of its timber alone, which is 

 more used than that of any other coniferous tree ; it is planted to 

 form hedges and screens by the wayside ; it has received assiduous 

 attention from horticulturists for centuries past, and many curious and 

 interesting varieties of it have been obtained by them ; it is also planted 

 to form avenues along the public roads, especially along the approaches 

 to spots associated with eminent historic personages or events. 



In none of its aspects is the Crypto- 

 meria more striking than in those 

 avenues planted in localities most fav- 

 ourable for the development of the trees. 

 An avenue of Cryptomerias seven miles 

 in extent near Lake Hakone was passed 

 through by Mr. James H. Veitch during 

 his travels in Japan, which, when once 

 seen, leaves an enduring impression ; in 

 this avenue the trees are more than 

 100 feet high, With perfectly straight 

 trunks crowned with conical heads of 

 foliage, the interval between them in 

 the line rarely exceeding six feet. More 

 remarkable and more impressive still is 

 the great avenue leading from Utsunomiya 

 to the celebrated shrines at Nikko, 

 extending to a distance of over thirty 

 miles ; it is the wonder and admiration 

 of all who have seen it ; the trunks 

 of the trees are as straight as an arrow 

 and average more than 100 feet in height 

 with a circumference of 12 to 15 feet 



near the base. " The planted avenue extends practically all the way 

 from Tokio to Nikko, but it is only when the road reaches the foot-hills 

 that it passes between two rows of Cryptomerias, the lower part being 

 planted, as is the case with the other great highways in Japan, with Pine 

 trees. Nor is the avenue continuous, for wherever a village occurs, or one 

 of the roadside tea-houses which are scattered, all along the road, there is a 

 break in the rows of trees, and it is only in some particular spots that 

 a long view of continuous trees is obtained. The trees are planted on high 

 banks made by throwing up the surface soil from the roadway ; they are 

 usually planted in double rows, and often so close together that in places 

 two or three trees have become united by a process of natural grafting."* 

 The same author adds : " Japan owes much of the beauty of its groves 

 and gardens to the Cryptomeria. Nowhere is there a more solemn and 

 impressive group of trees than that which surrounds the temples and 



* Sargent, Forest Flora of Japan, p. 74. 



Fig. 80. Cryptomeria japonica, var. elegans. 



