490 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



JAPANESE FOREST DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS IN UNIFORM 

 AND COOLIES IN THE BAMBOO STAND NEAR ARISAN, FOR- 

 MOSA. 



eminent monopoly since 1899. In the 

 Chinese regime, the crude and wasteful 

 method of manufacture adopted by the 

 Chinese camphor producer has been re- 

 placed by the advanced Japanese proc- 

 ess, while in order to keep up a suffi- 

 cient supply of material, efforts are be- 

 ing made towards propagation of the 

 tree, by establishing nurseries in vari- 

 ous parts of the island, the camphor 

 forest thus being maintained with splen- 

 did results. 



The Arisan forest timber industry is 

 a rather peculiar phenomena that up to 

 this time Formosa is importing a great 

 deal of timber from the mother coun- 

 try, notwithstanding the fact that she 

 has a considerable amount of commer- 



cial forests. It is due to the fact that 

 the island is topographically very steep 

 and most of the forest being found in 

 the savage district, it is consequently 

 very difficult of access. 



One of the most important timber 

 fellings which is going to be made by 

 the Government is the Arisan forest. 

 This forest is particularly well known 

 to the public. It is very dense virgin 

 forest, perhaps unique in the size of 

 the trunks and richness of its growth. 



The area of the forest is only about 

 27,000 acres, but it contains 106 million 

 cubic feet of conifers and 112 million 

 cubic feet of hardwoods. 



We are now going to explore the for- 

 est, by establishing a railway to the 



