FORESTRY OF JAPAN. 5 I 



exploitation of the State forests in Hokkaido, Taiwan and 

 Karafuto. 



(I) The Exploitation of the State forests in Hokkaido. 

 The work of the colonization of Hokkaido has been 

 brought to anything like order only within the last 20 or 30 

 years so that the attention of the Government has but recently 

 been drawn to the forest exploitation. 



Among the State forests in Hokkaido, there is a con- 

 siderable extent of land adapted to agriculture, so that the 

 line of demarkation has been drawn between the land to be 

 preserved as forests and that to be left for agriculture and 

 pasture, of which the latter was to be colonized and opened in 

 the season. Forests and genya to be preserved as forests were 

 subjected to utilization and improvements with a view to the 

 preservation of the land and the furtherance of the benefits 

 desirable from forests. Since the promotion of the permanent 

 interests of the State is a matter of supreme importance, the 

 total area of the State forests in Hokkaido figuring 4,780,000 

 cho, with the exception of those in the Kurile islands 

 covering an area of about 570,000 cko, has been brought under 

 the adjustment programme which was carried into force with 

 the consent of the Imperial Diet on April, 1908. The 

 programme stands as follows : 



{a) The Distinction of Forest Lands : A distinction has 

 been made between the forest lands to be utilized for the 

 purpose of agriculture and pasturage, and those to be preserved 

 as forests. In reference to the forests to be preserved, a 

 distinction has been drawn between those which should remain 

 permanently as the State forests and those which should be 



