Canadian Forestrx Journal. June, iqi6. 



579 



China's Policy of Forest Wreckini 



Indifferent to the Striking Success of Japan's Korea Pos'^essions 



in Reforesting Barren Lands 



The Hong Kong Weekly Press in 

 printing a detailed notice of Mr. 

 N. Shaw's "Chinese Forest Trees 

 and Timber Supply" says : 



"One rises from a perusal of this 

 work with a feeling of positive dis- 

 gust at the foolish neglect by the 

 Chinese of trees, which is slowly but 

 surely ruining one of the fairest re- 

 gions in the world. The Xorth- 

 West is gone, and the North is go- 

 ing." Then, almost immediately af- 

 terwards, we read, in the review of 

 the annual report on Chosen, an ac- 

 count of what Japan is already do- 

 ing in her newly-acquired territory, 

 and our disgust is deepened. "With 

 a view to stimulating in the people 

 an interest in or love of afforesta- 

 tion, the government-general, select- 

 ing the anniversary of the demise of 

 the First Emperor of Japan as 

 Arbor-day, has caused, since the an- 

 nexation, a universal plantation to 

 be carried out on that day, the first 

 time being April 3rd, 1911. The 

 first Arbor-day was held under the 

 auspices of the Governor-General in 

 the government grounds on the 

 slopes of Nansan, while the civil 

 governor conducted plantations on 

 a mountain in Keijo on the second 

 and third Arbor-days. Arbor-day 

 arouses much interest in the people 

 in general, especially in the school 

 children. While 4,650,000 trees were 

 planted on the first Arbor-day, over 

 10.160.000 trees were planted on the 

 second Arbor-day, April 3rd, 1912." 

 Could anything be a greater con- 

 trast than the state of things exist- 

 ing, so to speak, next door, where, 

 according to Mr. Bourne, the only 

 effort made in the direction of af- 

 forestation is that "Wood is usuallv 



planted round graves and is usually 

 cut and sold by a spendthrift son." 

 These quotations speak sufficient- 

 ly for themselves, if. indeed, there is 

 any need of demonstrating the de- 

 sirability of aftorestation in China 

 and the possibilities that would lie 

 before any well-designed plan to 

 that end. This being so, why is it 

 that the Chinese, who always have 

 an eye to the main chance, have suf- 

 fered so valuable an asset as a huge 

 timber supply not merely to be neg- 

 lected but in many cases to be de- 

 liberately destroyed? China's tim- 

 ber crop ought to be a very paying 

 thing, and afforestation and lumber- 

 ing are industries which are quite 

 within the capabilities of the Chi- 

 nese themselves. The mining in- 

 dustr}- is hampered and stifled prin- 

 cipally because it is feared that its 

 development would give foreigners 

 too great an influence in the interior, 

 but this argument does not apply to 

 the timber trade, which could be 

 developed to a considerable degree, 

 if not to its fullest extent, by ihe 

 Chinese themselves. Probably the 

 two principal reasons which prevent 

 anything being done in tiiis direction 

 are lack of roads and the unsettled 

 condition of the country districts. 

 Speaking roughly, all the accessible 

 land in China is cultivated and is 

 under crops which yield a much 

 quicker and. in the long run. a larger 

 return than timber; but if timber 

 has to be grown in the inaccessible 

 spots, how is it to be brought to 

 market without roads of some sort? 

 As a matter of fact, China's only 

 large forests are all in remote places 

 difficult of access, and probably it 

 is to that reason alone that thev owe 



