72 FORESTRY OF JAPAN. 



fore, we can taste its nice flavour for only one month in the 

 Autumn which is the season of its growth. In recent years, 

 however, people have begun to preserve it in tin cans, and 

 export it to foreign countries. The most famous Matsutake 



producing places are the forests belonging to Osaka Major 

 Forest Office and Hiroshima Major Forest Office, and in certain 

 Minor Forest Offices a greater income is obtained from 

 the proceeds of this mushroom. The gathering of this mush- 

 room is very simple and done by women and children, and 

 increasing demand of labour for gathering of mushrooms 

 naturally causes the raising of the wages of poorer classes in 

 those districts, conferring on them no small benefits. 



Besides these, the mushrooms such as Kotakc> Kikuragc, 

 Skimejitake, Haisntakc, etc. are very nice food. 



4. Fruits of Rhus succcdanca L. As material for 

 vegetable wax it constitutes an important item in the minor- 

 product of the forest. This fruits are produced mostly in 

 Kyushu, Shikoku, and southern part of Honshu and the 

 product is yearly increased. Vegetable wax has hitherto 

 been used solely as the material for candles, but lately it is 

 being used for giving luster to clothes, and also as a rust 

 preventive. In Europe and America, vegetable wax is used as 

 a substitute for beeswax. During the year 1907 the total 

 amount exported to Hongkong, Germany, England, and the 

 United States of America amounted to over 3,621,600 kin, 

 valued at over 1,070,500 yoi. If the amount consumed at 

 home is added to this the total will amount to a very Large 

 sum. This species is cultivated in the forests belongir, 

 temples and shrines, public forests, and private forests. It 



