214 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



support on any solid foundation. In this way the Japanese house 

 affords, even during the hot summer months, a cool dwelling. In 

 winter, however, when the rough winds blow, their cold blast 

 rushes in at every joint. Warm clothing then furnishes the only 

 piotection against cold, as the heating arrangements are by 

 no means adequate. The houses are roofed with straw in the 

 country, and in cities with shingles or tiles. The shingled roofs 

 have bands of bamboo-cane crossing each other at right angles 

 and fastened with wires, so as to hold the shingles in their places 

 in case of violent winds. In high localities the roofs are still 

 further protected by stones, as is done in European mountainous 

 countries. 



The light wood framework, the lack of chimneys and proper 

 heating apparatus generally, as well as the custom of building the 

 houses close together in cities and large towns, greatly increase the 

 danger from fires. Fearful conflagrations are frequent, particularly 

 in 1 okio, with its great sea of houses. These materially increase 

 the need of arboriculture, and form the chief reason why for 

 years a systematic laying out of forests has been carried on. For 

 while the great superfluity of wood in the mountains has been 

 unavoidable, because of the lack of proper roads and conveyance, 

 and much timber must inevitably go to waste, the lack of wood in 

 settled localities for centuries could only be met by forest cultiva- 

 tion. Under such conditions it is quite probable that the Japanese 

 tradition concerning the planting of forests 1,200 years ago in Dai- 

 Nippon is well founded. This could not have been a systematic, 

 well-aimed and State effort however, as its sole purpose was, as 

 has been said, simply to supply the need for wood. It is only in 

 later years that the Japanese have learned that the utterly neglected 

 mountain forest is a main source of prosperity for the country, and 

 that not only in its wood supply, but in its climatic influences. 

 From this time we see the energy with which scientific forestry 

 has been developed, as appeared in the Japanese section of the 

 Edinburgh Exhibition in 1884. 



The best building timber, at the same time hard, tough, and 

 durable, is the Keyaki {Zelkowa Keaki, Sieb.), but in consequence of 

 the high price, it is used mostly for joiner-work. For the same 

 reason the greatly prized pinewoods also, like Hinoki {ChamcB' 

 cyparis obtusa, EndL), and its kindred, Tsuga {Abies Tsjiga, S. and 

 Z.), Kara-matsu {Larix leptolepis, Gord.), Ichii (Taxus ctispidata, S. 

 and Z.), are not used in house building, as their excellence would 

 warrant, but serve the purposes of decoration in the more expensive 

 dwellings. The usual building-wood for houses is furnished by the 

 quick-growing Sugi {Cryptomeria japonica, Don.), also the Momi 

 {Abies firma, S. and Z.), and a still cheaper and much prized wood 

 having many varieties, the Matsu [Pinus densijiora, S. and Z., and 

 P, Massonia, Lamb.), used also largely in bridge building, for which 

 the more brittle Sugi wood is less adapted. 



