FORESTRY OF JAPAN. 7 



until the time when the work of Special Exploitation of the 

 State forests and the adjustment of the Imperial forests are 

 completed. In reference to the forests of Hokkaido, 

 Formosa, and Karafuto, the work of adjustment and investi- 

 gation is in the inception stage so that it will take somewhat 

 longer before the area are definitely determined. 



The Imperial forests are the property of the Imperial 

 Household and at the juncture of 1889 and 1890, the State 

 forests covering the area of over 3,557,219 cho found in such 

 provinces as Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Nagano, Gifu, 

 Aichi, Miye, Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Fukushima, Miyagi, 

 Gumma, Chiba, Tochigi, and the Hokkaido have been enrol- 

 led into the list of the property of Imperial Household. 

 These forests were then in the same condition as the State 

 forests, being natuarally mixed up some of which subject to 

 exploitation and others not. Thereupon in the year 1892, 

 the Department of Imperial Household started the actual 

 investigation of the Imperial forests and the results of the 

 investigation led the authorities in 1898 to set about the 

 disposal of these forests. In 1894, the Imperial forests in 

 Hokkaido covering an area of 1,370,000 cho were again con- 

 verted into State forests while the forests which had formerly 

 belonged to shrines and temples were disposed of to those 

 shrines and temples as a special measure. Owing to these 

 facts, the area of the Imperial forests has been subjected to 

 constant changes. Moreover, on the occasion of the revision 

 of the land tax, forests properly to be made the possession of 

 the people were enrolled by mistake into the list of the 

 Government property, and then transferred to the Imperial 



