Forest Conditions. 445 



Spruce, Fir, and White Birch are the trees of the 

 northern forest. 



Mixed forest forms 45%, broadleaf 25%, conifer 

 21%, and 9% is rated as blank or thinly stocked. 



The forest area, which, over the whole, covers, 

 with the addition of the newly acquired island of 

 Saghalien, 67% of the land area, or around 75 million 

 acres (1)4 acres per capita), is quite unevenly distri- 

 buted according to topography and population, be- 

 ing mostly confined to the mountain ranges and hills 

 which form the backbone of the country, and to the 

 northern provinces, which contain still large, un- 

 touched areas. Hokkaido, which was opened up to 

 colonization only 35 years ago, now with a population 

 of only 20 to the square mile, has 63% of forest, 15 

 acres per capita; the northern part of Hondo has a 

 somewhat greater area per cent., mostly on the high 

 steep mountains, but only 1.2 acres per capita; on 

 the southern portion, the low ranges of hills and valleys 

 the forest area has been reduced to 53%, but shows 

 only three-quarter acre per capita; and Okinawa, 

 with 26%, and less than one-third acre per capita, 

 shows the lowest. 



Of this forest area, however, almost one-half is 

 "hara, " brush forest, chaparral, or dwarfed tree 

 growth the result of mismanagement, excessive 

 cutting and fires and in the southern districts, 

 impenetrable thickets of dwarf bamboo, which crowd 

 out tree and even shrub growth wherever such mis- 

 management gives it entrance. These extensive haras 

 are cut every two or five years for the brush, which is 

 used to cover and furnish manure for rice fields. 



