232 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



courts and cemeteries. It grows rapidly, reaches large dimensions 

 and a great height. The wood shows many similarities to the 

 maple, is of a bright yellowish colour, fine-grained, capable of 

 polish, tender and easily broken, and therefore not so highly prized. 



12. Podocarpus macrophylla, Don. {Taxus 7nacrophylla, Thunb.), 

 Jap. Maki, Kusa-Maki and Inu-maki, is limited to the warmer 

 portions of Japan, and even here is not widely spread. Sometimes 

 the plants are used for green hedges as here and there in Tokio. 

 It is mostly, however, met with in temple-groves and courts. It is 

 a tree with a straight grey-barked trunk, i to 2 m. in circumference 

 and 15 to 20 m. high. The fibrous, reddish yellow wood is not so 

 durable in the air as in water, and on account of its scarcity, is not 

 very widely used. 



13. Podocarpus Nageia, R. Br., Jap. Nagai. As to its distribution, 

 what was said of the preceding species is true also of this ; indeed 

 it seems still doubtful if it belongs to the indigenous conifers of 

 Japan at all. The trees in the neighbourhood of temples resemble 

 juniper in colour of their wood and their brownish red bark. 



b. CupressinecB : Cypresses. 



14. Juniperiis cJdnensis, L. (/. Thunbergii, Hook), Jap. Ibuki and 

 Beni-biyakushiu. This Japanese juniper is a mere shrub, like all 

 others. The reddish brown, firm, heavy wood is characterized 

 by a strong and agreeable smell and is excellent for inlaid work, 

 but on account of its small size and the difficulty of working it up, 

 is not much used. 



15. Biota orientalis^ Endl. {Thuya or ientalis, Thunb.), Jap. Konote, 

 Wabyakudan. The fine-grained wood of this bush or low tree is 

 but little used. It is like that of the Nagi, only lighter in colour 

 and weight. 



16. ChamcBcyparis obtusa^ S. and Z. {Reti7iispora obtusa, S. and 

 Z.), Jap. Hi-no-ki. 



17. Ch. pisifera, S. and Z. {Retinispora pisifera, S. and Z.), Jap. 

 Sawara. 



18. Thujopsis dolabrata, S. and Z. {TJivju dolabrata, Thunb.), 

 Jap. Hiba. 



These three conifers form a small group not so much on account 

 of their relationship to Arbor vitse as because of their conditions, 

 common occurrence, the similarity of their woods and its uses. 

 We find them chiefly on the mountain sides and in the low valleys 

 of Honshiu in the Upper Kisogawa, and in Kishiu and Yamato, 

 (see p. 219), upon a soil which having been made up by the de- 

 composition of granite, of old slate, or volcanic rock, affords easy 

 drainage and a deep rooting of the tree. In dense groves on a 

 good soil, they form magnificent cultivated forests with straight up- 

 right trunks, reaching a circumference of 3 to 4 m. and a height of 

 30 to 35 m. When from 160 to 200 years old they look as sound 

 as in their youth. Trunks 200 years old measure 2*5 to 3 m. 

 around at the base; and 18 m. higher, where the crown com- 



