736 



CONSERVATION 



The whole university, as well as the 

 higher schools (which are attended only 

 by men who are going to enter the uni- 

 versity) are government institutions. 

 Therefore, a man is admitted directly 

 from the forestry course into the gov- 

 ernment service without further exam- 

 inations. Tn addition to the forest 

 courses in the University of Tokyo, 

 every province has a forest school. 

 These are much higher than ordinary 

 ranger schools. The one seen, in 

 Yamato Province, near the private for- 

 ests of Yoshino, was a combination 

 agricultural and forest school with 200 

 students, about equally divided between 

 the two branches (forestry and agricul- 

 ture). The course took three years, 

 and took in a large proportion of the 

 necessary subjects. 



Thus it can be seen that forest edu- 

 cation is well advanced in Japan. 



V STATE FORESTS 



Historical 



A very brief outline of the history of 

 forestry in Japan will serve to give an 

 idea of its position to-day. 



Under the old regime (the feudal 

 system) rigid rules for protection and 

 careful utilization were enforced in all 

 forests, private as well as those be- 

 longing to the Daimyos. At the time 

 of the restoration of the Mikado and 

 abolition of the feudal system these 

 strict rules were largely done away 

 with, i)n private land at least, and con- 

 siderable cutting was carried on. The 

 state took over all the forests belonging 

 to the Daimyos, but there was consider- 

 able confusion between the boundaries 

 of these different Daimyo forests and 

 between the Daimyo and private forests. 



To remedy this a plan was drawn up 

 in 1890, called the "First Adjustment 

 Program." By this plan the state 

 holdings were to be consolidated by 

 the sale of small, isolated bodies of 

 forest of under 150 acres in extent and 

 of land, whether forested or not, whicTi 

 was more suitable for agriculture than 



for forestry. This program was to 

 extend over fifteen years, from 1890 to 

 1904. In 1898 the program was re- 

 vised and a special fund created from 

 the proceeds of these sales. This fund 

 was to be used in carrying on the work 

 of adjustment, and demarcating the 

 boundaries of the forests and purchas- 

 ing such forests as were required, in 

 mapping the forests, marking working- 

 plans, planting denuded areas and in 

 permanent improvement. This fund 

 will amount to $11,500,000 in fifteen 

 years, during which time it is expected 

 that the work (readjustment, working 

 plans, permanent improvements, etc.") 

 will be completed. At present most of 

 the forests have been demarcated and 

 mapped, and have working plans made 

 for them. The work of permanent im- 

 provement and planting denuded areas * 

 is being vigorously pushed and will also 

 soon be completed. This work is under 

 a special branch in the Bureau of For- 

 estry. 



Organization 



The main organization is practically 

 identical with that of our own Forest 

 Service. The Bureau of Forestry is 

 under the Department of Commerce and 

 Agriculture. There is a central office 

 ( Sin-rin-kioku) at Tokyo. The whole 

 country is divided into ten major of- 

 fices (Dai-rin-kuchos), corrosponcling 

 to our dictricts. Under each major 

 office are a number of minor office? 

 (Sho-rin-kuchos), 300 in all, corres- 

 ponding to our National Forests. 



The head of 'the Bureau, Mr. Kami- 

 yama, is a lawyer, as are also two of 

 the ten heads of the major offices. The 

 whole force consists of : twenty-six 

 secretaries, men who have for the most 

 part had a higher training in law at the 

 University of Tokyo ; ninety-eight 

 higher trained men, 997 lower trained 

 men ( from the subsidiary forest course, 

 or perhaps a provincial forest school). 

 970 ordinary clerks, and 1,428 rangers 

 and guards. The higher trained men 

 are generally in the major offices, or 



'The planting which is paid for out of the special fund is only the planting of denuded 

 areas. The regular planting following the cuttings is paid for out of the regular appropria- 

 tion for the running expenses of the forests. 



