2i6 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



the country) is cultivated. The other species of cultivated conifers 

 need a deeper and better soil, which is to be found only in the 

 plains. 



They are sometimes found however, as the Chamaecyparis and 

 Thujopsis, on the lower gentle slopes of mountains. In case the 

 soil here is too stony and unfruitful, the chestnut is planted, 

 while the oak is better adapted to the saddles and hollows. It is 

 seldom however that forest cultivation of any kind goes higher than 

 1000 meters. In Yezo, according to Bohmer,^ the only forest tree 

 that is cultivated by Japanese immigrants, on account of its wood, 

 is the Cryptomeria. 



In comparison with the numerous forests and groves of Sugi and 

 of pines {Ptnus densiflora, or Aka-matsu, and P. Masso7tiana, or 

 Kuromatsu) distributed over all the provinces, the solitary groves 

 of other cultivated coniferous trees sink into insignificance. Those 

 of the Cypress family, viz., Hinoki, Sawara and Hiba {ChamcEcyparis 

 obtiisa, Ch. pisifera, and Thujopsis dolabrata)^ are found more ex- 

 tensive and in a finer development in the middle portion of Hondo 

 on the peninsula of Yamato and in the district of the upper Kiso- 

 gawa. Previous to the restoration of Mikado-rule they belonged 

 mostly to the two powerful Daimios of Kishiu (Kii) and Bishiu 

 (Owari). lyeyasu, by a special law, had made it the duty of the 

 rulers of these provinces to provide the necessary Hi-no-ki wood 

 for the building and renewing, every twenty-one years, of the 

 national sanctuary in Ise (temple of the Sun-goddess Amaterasu), 

 and to give their constant attention to the forests of this tree, 

 releasing them at the same time from all other general tribute. 

 In explanation of this it ought to be said that Hi-no-ki and 

 Sakaki {Cleyera japonicd) were and still are the holy plants of the 

 sun-goddess, and also of the Shinto or ancestry-worship. And all 

 temples so dedicated, as well as the former residence of the Mikado 

 in Kioto, were built of the wood of the Hi-no-ki.^ 



Of all the pine-woods of Japan which form a part of its arbori- 

 culture the beautiful screen fir {Sciadopitys verticillata, S. and Z.) 

 is certainly the least propagated. It is found in large planta- 

 tions only on the mountain slopes around Koya-san in Kishiu 

 (hence called Koya-maki). Dr. Yaroku Nakamuro gives also Podo- 

 carpus Nageia, and P. macrophylla, as components of the cultivated 

 pine forests,^ but I always met them only as ornamental trees, 

 like the Ginko. 



The bamboo groves (Yabu, Take-yabu) may also be ranked as 

 cultivated forests. They serve the most manifold purposes, making 

 an agreeable diversion in the landscape, and are especially frequent 



1 " Reports to the Kaitakushi." Tokio, 1878. 



^ See also Rein, " Japan," vol. i. 



3 " Ueber den anatomischen Bau des Holzes der vvichtigsten japanischen 

 Coniferae, Untersuchungen aus dem forstbotanischen Institute in Miinchen," 

 iii. 1883. 



