204 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



and lastly we have the woven fabrics brought to the foreign 

 markets. 



The three geographical silk zones of Hondo are distinguished 

 by the dealers in Yokohama according to the quality of the reel or 

 raw silks and their '' make-up," i.e. the manner in which the skeins 

 are laid together in packing. 



a. The northern district yields the O^-^hiu silk, so called from the 

 province Oshiu, which furnishes about 20 per cent, of the entire 

 production, and exports 25 per cent, of the seed or graines. The 

 city of Fukushima, on the Abukuma-gawa, is the centre of the 

 most active silk culture in Oshiu. The district embraces that sec- 

 tion of country lying between 37° and 38j° N. lat. and 140° and 

 141° E. long. To it belongs — 



(a) The province Iwashiro, watered chiefly by the Abukuma- 

 gawa, with its cities Fukushima, Yanagawa, Nihonmatsu, Moto- 

 miya, Moriyama, and Sukagawa, as well as other well-known silk- 

 raising localities. 



(/3) The province Uzen, north-west from Iwashiro, and north of 

 the Aidzu-taira, with the cities of Yamagata, Kaminoyama, and 

 Yonezawa. The neighbourhood of this last named city, with the 

 localities Koide and Narita, furnishes a large quantity of specially 

 prized Tane to commerce. 



(7) Iwaki, whose largest silk market is the city of Miharu. The 

 more northerly provinces, from Sendai to Echigo, lying in the 

 western part along the Japan Sea, are far behind these three in 

 the worth and quantity of their Oshiu silk. 



b. The central district joins the foregoing on the north, stretch- 

 ing toward the south-west from about 37° to 35^° N. lat., and be- 

 tween 137° and 139^° E. long., westerly and north-westerly from 

 Tokio. This district embraces the provinces of Kodzuke (Joshiu), 

 Shinano (Sinshiu), and Kai (Koshiu), besides joining Sinshiu, the 

 provinces of Hida, Kaga and Echiu, in which silk-culture falls far 

 behind the first-named three ; and finally east of Koshiu and 

 Joshiu the western and hilly Musashi, as well as Shimodzuke and 

 Hitachi, which furnish only a small amount of silk. 



This central zone of Japanese silk-culture takes prominent place 

 inasmuch as it produces 65 per cent, of all the Japanese silk in the 

 market, and 70 per cent, of the seeds or graines. From Joshiu 

 comes 30 per cent, of silk and 15 per cent, of the graines. From 

 Sinshiu, 27 per cent, silk and 60 per cent, graines, and from Mu- 

 sashi about 15 per cent, of silk only. It appears, therefore, that 

 Joshiu is the most productive of all the silk fields of Japan. The 

 country surrounding, Mayebashi, Takasaki, and Numata, is speci- 

 ally noted for silk production ; and Mayebashi hanks, or Maye- 

 bashi grappes, lead the price all the Japanese reel silk. In the 

 high-lying province of Shinano also, there is great activity in silk- 

 culture, which excels all other occupations as a source of livelihood 

 and gain. Its production also is highly prized in the market, and is 



