AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 215 



It will be seen from the foregoing why so much attention is 

 given to the culture of Sugi and Matsu. It is highly probable that 

 all these pine forests and also those of the cypress family {Chamce- 

 cyparis and TImjopsis) are of artificial cultivation, since experience 

 has shown that their self-propagation, like most Coniferae, is diffi- 

 cult, and wherever a pine forest disappears, its place is usually 

 filled by blackberry bushes, wild roses, and other almost worthless 

 deciduous growths. 



For fuel, in the dwelling houses, the charcoal of the various Cupu- 

 lifera is used universally, especially that of the chestnut or Kuri 

 {Castanea vjilgaids^ Lamk.) and of several deciduous oaks, such as 

 Kashiwa, Kunugi, and Nara {jQueixiis dentata, Q. serrata, and Q. 

 crispiild). As this wood is used for several other purposes also, it 

 is very much cultivated, and found in plantations devoted entirely 

 to it, although they are not to be confounded with the mountain 

 forests. 



The same is true of the evergreen Shii-no-ki {Quercus cuspidatd) 

 which is confined to the warm south, and is also cultivated on ac- 

 count of its valuable wood. 



All the above-mentioned forest trees, and some others less wide- 

 spread — the Koya-maki or screen fir {Sciadopitys verticillata) 

 among them — are raised from the seed in nurseries, as with us, and 

 the seedlings transplanted after two years' growth. The cultivation 

 of the plants during these two years, as well as the laying out of 

 the plantation, is very carefully managed and based on all the 

 teachings of past experience. There is also no lack of printed 

 instructions with all necessary illustrations. 



The ground chosen for such a plantation is prepared as tho- 

 roughly as for a fruit-tree nursery or a tea-garden, and is well en- 

 closed with a light and pretty bamboo hedge, from one to two 

 meters high, which does not hinder light and air. In snowy 

 districts a further protection is provided in winter in the shape of a 

 straw roof, known as the Yuki-6i ; and in case it becomes neces- 

 sary to shelter the young plants from the cold, as e.g., with the 

 Ko-kuri or young chestnut, straw fastened to a bamboo framework 

 is spread over them. 



The greatest care is also observed in taking up the Naye or 

 young seedlings, cutting back their perpendicular roots, making 

 ready the plant holes with the hoe, and planting again in the 

 ground laid out for the new forest. I did not find, however, that 

 our system of planting in rows was very much adhered to ; much 

 more regard was had to the nature of the ground, and to the pecu- 

 liar taste which has a dislike for systematic regularity on a wide 

 scale, except where it may be necessary, as in agriculture. 



The cultivated forests of Japan are seldom very large. Poor 

 gravelly soil, fixed dunes and other sandy districts are, as a 

 rule, devoted to the above mentioned pine trees, just as in the 

 Departement des Landes, the Pinus Pinaster Solander (the pine of 



