FORESTRY IN JAPAN 



739 



nary plan, giving all the data; (2) the 

 main working plan, giving the basis of 

 the cutting and planting plans; (3) the 

 cutting plan, giving also the prescrip- 

 tions as to what to do with the area, and 

 (4) the planting plan. 



STATE FORESTS OF UECIIIMAr.E 



The forest of l T cchimahe is in the 

 Aomori Dai-tin-kncho (district) at 

 the very northernmost end of the main 

 island of Japan. It has an area ot 

 16,000 acres covering part of a range of 

 hills which runs parallel to the coast. 

 These hills are steep in the middle, 

 about up to 300 or 1,000 feet elevation, 

 and more gentle on their outer edges, 

 with a flat strip of rice fields from two 

 to five miles wide between them and the 

 shore. 



The forest was of practically pure 

 Shiba (Thujoposis dolobrata} except 

 for occasional patches where mixed 

 hardwoods, beech, maple, etc., would 

 be found. The stand is more or less 

 even aged, with excellent reproduction 

 wherever openings occur. 



Under the Daimyos the forest had 

 been lightly cut over, and just enough 

 taken out to make small openings in 

 which there is abundant reproduction. 

 The management has taken advantage 

 of this fact and prescribed a system of 

 natural reproduction, the only case of 

 natural reproduction seen in Japan. The 

 system used is an adaptation of Schlich's 

 Shelterwood Compartment system with 

 three cuttings and a period of repro- 

 duction of twenty years. They are sup- 

 posed to wait five years between the 

 first and second cuttings, and fifteen 

 years between the second and third. As 

 a matter of fact they admit that they 

 will have to make one or more thin- 

 nings between the second and third cut- 

 tings unless the second cutting is made 

 rather heavy, which would be bad, be- 

 cause it would favor the hardwoods 

 against the Shiba. In general, they have 

 considered the fellings made by the 

 Daimyos as the first cuttings, and are 

 no\v carrying out the second and third. 

 Blanks are planted up with Cryptomeria. 

 The system is really an excellent one if 

 properly carried out. The trouble is that 



they have unwisely left the markings 

 to untrained guards, with disastrous re- 

 sults in some cases. If this kind of 

 marking is continued the system will 

 have to be abandoned in favor of clear 

 cutting and planting. It is probable 

 that this will be done sooner or later. 

 The working plan, though made by 

 a man who had only the subsidiary for- 

 est course in the University of Tokyo, 

 showed a good deal of care and skill. 

 The whole forest had been mapped 

 and divided into working circles, 

 blocks, and compartments. The com- 

 partments were based on topography, 

 and are for convenience in estimating 

 and location. They were made before 

 the estimate and then used as units in 

 estimating, each being estimated sep- 

 arately. The rotation is 100 years, with 

 a felling period of twenty years. The 

 object is to obtain sustained yield by 

 cutting equal areas and equal volume. 

 For this purpose five site qualities are 

 distinguished according to the soil and 

 the stand. That is, the soil might be 

 quality I, and the stand quality III. 

 The net revenue is figured at a little 

 over a dollar per acre per annum. 



STATE FOREST OF NAGAKIZAWA 



This forest is in the northwest of the 

 main island of Japan, some thirty miles 

 or so from the coast. It is really in 

 the Odate minor office (correspond- 

 ing to our National Forest), in the 

 Akita Dai-rin-kucho (district), just 

 south of the Aomori Dai-rin-kucho. As 

 with most of the forests of Japan, it 

 is in a mountainous region, some of 

 the hills being rather high and steep. 

 This forest is famous for containing 

 one of the finest bodies of virgin 

 Cryptomeria in Japan. It is a solid body 

 of about 40,000 acres in extent, of 

 large, mature Cryptomeria, remarkably 

 even-aged, averaging thirty inches or 

 more in diameter at breast height by 

 about sixty feet, merchantable length. 

 The stand would run from forty to fifty 

 thousand board-feet per acre through- 

 out the whole tract. There are a few 

 patches of hardwoods on the edge of 

 the forest, but these are comparatively 

 insignificant. 



