68 FORESTRY OF JAPAN. 



the place, from where it can be floated by the stream in rafts 

 or by ships to the depot, and the first stage of transports is the 

 work between the forest and the timber depot. In truth, there 

 are rivers in Japan that are not fitted for the purpose. The 

 second is the transport from the depot to the markets which 

 are generally situated in the place where rivers empty them- 

 selves into the sea. This situation of the market gives great 

 convenience to the floating of timber. There is, however, an 

 inconvenience that every market does not necessarily exist at 

 the mouth of a river, but in some cases it is far from the river. 

 Even in such case, the timber can be transported by sea. Japan 

 is surrounded by sea and a harbour is found in almost all parts 

 of the coast, and the inconvenience of the distance is sufficiently 

 mitigated. 



Thus, water affords great convenience and facility to the 

 transport of forest products, and has an important relation to 

 the supply of timber. It is, however, difficult to make use di 

 the river throughout the year, on the one side the water being 

 required for the purpose of the irrigation of the paddy fields, and 

 on the other, in the summer and the early autumn the river 

 often inundates making the floating of timber impossible. The 

 season most suited for the purpose is the seven months from 

 the end of September till the middle of March of the next 

 year. The development of wood technology and the increase 

 of demand of timber in the market, not allowing the supply to 

 be limited to a certain season, but requiring continual supply, 

 the general tendency now is to rely upon the transportation by 

 land instead of by water, and thus to save the inconvenience of 

 limiting the supply to a certain season and damage done to the 



