196 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



According to Komaror, Flora ManshuricB, i. 206(1901), Thuya japonica gravis 

 wild abundantly in northern Corea in the Samsu district, but was not observed by 

 him in Manchuria or elsewhere on the mainland. 



This tree is not, so far as I saw, as common in Japan, where it is called 

 Nezuko, as Cupressus obtusa or C. pisifera, though it is said by Goto' to be 

 found in the provinces of Yamato, Bungo, Satsuma, Omi, Iwashiro, Shimotsuke, and 

 Uzen, at an elevation of from about 3000 to 6000 feet. 



The only place where I saw it wild was at Yumoto, above Nikko, where it was 

 scattered in mixed forest with Tsuga, Thujopsis, birches, and other deciduous trees, 

 and it is said to be never found in unmixed woods. At Koyasan I found small trees 

 of it, perhaps planted, and brought away a seedling, which is now living at 

 Colesborne. 



At Atera, in the Kisogawa district, the forester told me that it grows best as a 

 young tree in shade, and that where Cupressus obtusa has been felled it often comes 

 up from seed. It does not attain very large dimensions, so far as I could learn, and 

 is not considered a tree of much economic importance. 



The timber is light and used for carpentry. It sometimes has a very pretty 

 figure, and in old trees is of a pale grey colour, though perhaps this is only assumed 

 by trees which were dead before cutting. It is cut into thin boards, and used for 

 ceilings and other inside work, and is said to cost about 2d. per square foot in 

 the board at Tokyo, and to make very durable shingles. 



In Great Britain the tree seems to grow slowly, and is not common in gardens. 

 The largest I have seen is a grafted and very spreading tree in Mr. W. H. Grififiths' 

 garden at Campden, Gloucestershire, which is about 25 feet by 2\ feet, and probably 

 one of the oldest in England. It has produced fertile seeds from which plants 

 have been raised. The largest recorded at the Conifer Conference was at Dalkeith 

 Palace, where it was 15 feet high in 189 1. A tree at Kilmacurragh, co. Wicklow, 

 Ireland, was 24 feet by 2 feet 4 inches in 1906, and bears fruit. Another at 

 Castlewellan measured 25 feet high in the same year. (H. J. E.) 



' Forestry of Japan (\<iOli^. 



