I70 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



struction Scheube has described somewhat more fully in the above- 

 mentioned work. 



9. Tilia cordata, Mill., Jap. Shina-no-ki, called Nibeshi by the 

 Ainos, who make ropes from its bast. I saw it worked into mats 

 in Aidzu. It is loosened from the bark by long soaking in run- 

 ning water, and made pliable by pounding. The bast of Tilia 

 mmidschurica serves the same purposes. 



10. To the plants already mentioned must be added those whose 

 bast is used chiefly in the manufacture of paper, though occasionally 

 also for making coarse garments, a much more general appli- 

 cation, however, in ancient times. The chief of these are the 

 various species of paper-mulberry [Biviissonetia papyrifera, Vent, 

 B. Kasinoki, Sieb., and B. Kaempferi, Sieb.) ; also the white mul- 

 berry {Moms alba, L.), the Edgeworthia papyrifera, S. and Z., and 

 the W ickstrcemia canescens, Meisn., all of which, except the last, 

 are extensively grown. Further details regarding the nature of 

 their cultivation and the way their bast is obtained come later, in 

 the chapter on the paper-industry. 



11. 67^^;;/(^r^/j ^;r<:^/i-rt;, Thunb., Jap. Shuro, or Shuro-no-ki. This 

 beautiful fan-palm usually attains a height of 5 to 6 m. in Japan 

 and a girth of about 080 m. It is not indigenous, but is culti- 

 vated much as in the warmer parts of China, that is, wherever 

 the evergreen oaks and camphor-laurel grow. Solitary specimens 

 are found on the eastern side of Hondo, near Sendai Bay, in lati- 

 tude 38 J° N. On the eastern side it does not reach so far north, 

 and in the interior, which lies higher, it does not occur at all. Its 

 real home has not yet been fully decided upon, but must be some- 

 where in the tropical monsoon region. 



When the leaves of this palm are over two years old they are 

 turned to account. The whole leaf is divided into narrow strips, 

 from which several articles are plaited, hats and ropes in particular. 

 But the dark brown fibres are principally used. These, as in 

 the case of Chamcerops hurnilis in the Mediterranean-region, come 

 out like long lashes on the edges of the leaf-sheaths, and surround 

 the base of the leaves and blossom-cups. These hairy fibres (Jap. 

 Shuro-no-ki), a sort of Crin vegetal, much longer and softer than 

 the so-called Coir of coco-nuts, are manufactured into ropes, mats, 

 dust-brooms, and brushes, in Japan as well as in China. In Tokio 

 there are, for example, whole families that support themselves by 

 making Shuro-saiku, i.e. fine, small (sai) work (ku) made of the 

 palm (Shuro), which they sell in small shops. 



12. Juncus effusus, Z., Jap. I or I-gusa. This is a rush which is 

 widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, and is gathered and 

 made into mats in several other countries as well though it has 

 nowhere become as important as in Japan. Many a custom and 

 household usage here is intimately associated with the foot-mats, 

 and other textures made from it. To meet the great demand for 

 this rush, it is regularly cultivated in some parts of the country, 



