284 AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 



Japan. This is the reason why the number of single green-leaved 

 and male specimens is so much smaller than those of the female, 

 variegated plants. Later, a new species, Aiicuba himalaica, 

 Hooker, has been introduced as a decorative plant, which, however, 

 has not begun to contest the field with the older varieties. 



Fatsia japonica, Decn. and Planch. {Aralia japonica, Thunb., 

 A, Sieboldi, Hort). The Japanese call this plant Yatsu-de, i.e., 

 Eight Fingers — a name which comes from the eight lobes at the 

 end of the great shiny green leaves. Many of them, especially 

 with us, are only seven-lobed, though sometimes having nine lobes. 

 The name Fatsia may perhaps be corrupted from the Japanese 

 designation. This beautiful ornamental plant, of luxuriant tropical 

 appearance, after its introduction into Europe, passed, like the 

 Aucuba, from the hot-house to the cold-house and the flower-stand, 

 and contests with it for the supremacy in popular taste and in ease 

 of cultivation. It is found wild here and there in Southern and 

 Middle Japan, but more often as a decorative plant in court-yards, 

 gardens, and temple groves. There it blossoms, as with us, in 

 November and December, and ripens its black berries in March. 



It is much cultivated in Mediterranean countries, though it is 

 necessary there to shade it in the hot, dry summer. It has proved 

 hardy in England also, but seldom blossoms. On our flower- 

 stands it reaches a height of 2 to 3 m., and compares well in size 

 and beautiful leaf-decoration with the finest specimens in Japan. 



Owing to the great popularity of conifers in our modern land- 

 scape-gardening, and the peculiar beauty of many Japanese 

 kinds, their introduction and distribution has been actively 

 carried on in many places. The first one brought to Europe was 

 Gingko biloba^ L., and it has shown itself exceedingly well adapted 

 to cultivation here. It is the oldest known from the shores of the 

 North and Baltic Seas to those of the Mediterranean, and with- 

 stands the winter cold of Germany as well as the summer heat of 

 the southern European peninsulas. The several varieties of Biota 

 orientalis were some time ago introduced in our country by way of 

 Hither Asia. 



During the devastating winter of 1879-80, most of the Japanese 

 conifers in Europe proved themselves much better able to resist 

 the cold than those which had been brought to us from the forests 

 of the Pacific coast of North America. The hardiest of all, apart 

 from the two already named, were Taxiis aispidata, S. and Z., 

 CJiamcecyparis obtusa, S. and Z., Ch. pisifera^ S. and Z., Thujopsis 

 dolabrata, S. and Z., Abies polita, S. and Z., A. tstiga, S. and Z., and 

 Larix leptolepis^ Gord. The adaptation of these species to forestry 

 can scarcely be doubted. Nevertheless Abies firma, like all the 

 Japanese firs of the Picea tribe, shows little advantage over our 

 " Edeltanne," and the same is true of Taxtts cuspidata in com- 

 parison with our yew. The five other kinds mentioned, however, 

 furnish very valuable woods, whose useful properties are greater 



