42 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



most abundant and important plant here found is a kind of bam- 

 boo grass (Arundinaria) which in places forms almost impenetra- 

 ble thickets, varying in height from two or three up to ten or 

 more feet according to the soil and altitude. The leaves of this 

 plant are evergreen, and it constitutes a most valuable and 

 nutritious winter pasturage for deer, and also for cattle and 

 horses which in most parts of the islands keep in good condition 

 on it throughout the winter months. Horses are especially fond 

 of it and will eat it in summer in preference to English grasses. 

 Prudent managers, therefore, during the summer months exclude 

 them from the forests which are to be used for winter pasturage. 

 At times the deep snows of winter quite bury this plant, but 

 horses learn to dig for it, pawing away the snow to reach it. In 

 this wa}' the)' manage to keep in fair condition through the season. 

 "Where this Arundinaria grows it crowds out all other under- 

 growth. Only trees and climbers can contend with it. One is 

 struck by the enormous number and variety of climbers, woody 

 and herbaceous, both in mountain and plain-land forests. These 

 contribute much to the appearance of tropical luxuriance and 

 richness which every travelled visitor remarks. 



Within the limits of an island of the size of Yesso is to be 

 found, as might be expected, a great variet}' of soils. It is 

 unnecessar}'^ to enter into detailed descriptions. Suffice it to say 

 that the greater portion of these soils are still virgin. Until 

 within the last fifteen or twenty years the Japanese people had 

 made no effort to occup}' this territory. To them it was a terra 

 incognita ; to the minds of a race of tropical origin it was a dread- 

 ful, frigid wilderness, peopled with ferocious wild ])easts and hairy 

 men scarcel)* less wild. The Japanese fished upon its shores in 

 summer, and a few dwelt there ; but no attempt was made to 

 settle in the interior. The virgin soil is in many places of consid- 

 erable fertilit}' notwithstanding the Japanese proverb : " Shin den 

 wadzuka ko ho-nen" which means, " The crops on new land are 

 small." The best will produce at first without manures about 

 fifty bushels of corn, two and a half tons of hay, or four hundred 

 bushels of potatoes per acre ; but the soil is not strong, and soon 

 needs manure. According to analyses, even the best is usually 

 deficient in both phosphoric acid and potash, and there is a wide 

 extent of territory, the soil of which, composed largely of volcanic 

 scoriae and ash, is very light and poor. 



