740 



CONSERVATION 



The working plan, which was made 

 seven years ago, is an excellent piece 

 of work with a remarkably good map. 

 as good as any to he found in Ger- 

 many. It prescribes a system of clear 

 cutting and planting with a ninety-five 

 year rotation. The trouble is that the 

 forest is situated within eight miles of 

 the Kosaka copper mine, the largest in 

 Japan, which gives off fumes of SO" 

 (sulphur dioxide) gas to such an ex- 

 tent that all the timber within that 

 part of the forest nearest the mine has 

 been killed. The working plan was re- 

 vised five years ago so as to exclude 

 that part of the forest which was being 

 injured. Hut the damage was so great 

 that the plan had to be revised again 

 last year to exclude a still larger area. 

 At present they have practically had to 

 abandon the working plan entirely and 

 devote their cutting operations to the 

 areas most badly damaged. Of course, 

 it is useless to replant the cut-over areas 

 under such circumstances. They are 

 carrying on experiments with a large 

 number of native and foreign species 

 to find something which will resist the 

 fumes. The only species so far found 

 is the Nara (Oncrens ^rosscrata), a 

 kind of ash of little commercial value. 

 They say, however, that the production 

 of timber is of minor importance so 

 long as the}- can keep a protective cov- 

 ering 011 the slopes. The mine authori- 

 ties are offering rewards for a process 

 which will do away with the fumes. 

 I nless some such process is soon dis- 

 covered, the whole forest of Naga- 

 kizawa is doomed. 



VI CONCLUSION' 



It is probable that the forests seen 

 were the finest ones, not typical of the 

 general average in the country, because 

 one state forest seen on a special trip, 

 not on the itinerary made out by the 

 chief of the bureau, comprised large 



areas of poor, scrubby hardwoods lib- 

 erally interspersed with blanks. 



(The grazing problem in Japan is 

 noticeable by its absence, because there 

 are practically no cattle in the whole 

 country. Hence the revenue is derived 

 only from the sale of forest material.) 



The ordinary expenditures for 1908- 

 1909 were $2,199,000. This is from an 

 appropriation which is put in the regu- 

 lar budget and voted on by the cham- 

 ber. The extraordinary expenses, for 

 working plans, planting denuded areas, 

 permanent improvements, etc., were 

 $1,323,500, derived from the sale of 

 isolated pieces of land. And the net 

 revenue amounted to $5,000,000, a very 

 striking figure when we think of the 

 comparatively small area of their for- 

 ests ; that is, compared with ours. It 

 shows the enormous profits to be de- 

 rived from well-managed forests in a 

 thickly settled country, a thing which 

 we hope to have in the United States 

 some day. 



One of the finest and most instructive 

 things about Japan is that a large part 

 of the absolute forest land, that is, land 

 unfit for agriculture, belongs to the 

 state. Such of it as is now bare is 

 being rapidly planted up, so that it will 

 soon all be productive. The absolute 

 forest land in the hands of private in- 

 dividuals can be controlled by the state 

 if necessary, but is managed by the 

 owners as permanent forest under sci- 

 entific principles. 



This is a state of affairs which is dif- 

 ficult for the ordinal')' American of to- 

 day to realize. But it is one which, the 

 sooner it is understood and adopted, the 

 better it will be for the future welfare 

 of the whole country. 



Forestry has been called the "yard- 

 stick" of civilization. fudged by thi^ 

 standard, Japan is one of the most 

 highly civilized nations in the world 

 to-day. 



