53B 



Garden and Forest, 



[November 6, 1889. 



even in southern Saghalin. It rivals in height and thickness 

 the other deciduous forest trees in its company, and ail the 

 other varieties of its own race, even the North American M. 

 grandijiora. Few of its kindred endure the rigors of winter 

 so well. 



" Ho-no-lvi loves a good soil, and grows best in. the shade of 

 high trees, especially the Beech forests. Oaks, Maples, Ashes, 

 and iii,\>cc\v\\y yKs cuius turhinata and AcantJiOpanax 7'icinifolia, 

 are frequently its companions. 



"The smooth, grayish-white bark of thestraight trunk, which 

 in thick, high forests is branchless to a considerable height, 

 reminds one of the Beech. The crown is formed of thick, 

 widely spreading, but not so numerous nor so ramified 

 branches, and its leaves and flowers give the tree a peculiar 

 beauty." 



" Every branch develops about tea leaves, which are crowded 

 together in verticillate form near the end. In the midst of this 

 beautiful wreath of leaves there unfolds, about the middle of 

 May or beginning of June, a splendid large white flower, with a 

 pineapple-like peifume. Even later in midsummer the Ho-no- 

 ki tree presents a surprisingly beautiful appearance. When the 

 wind sways the foliage of the Magnolia-lined mountain side, 

 and the lower side of the leaf is turned upward, the tree looks 

 to one at a little distance as if it were for a second time covered 

 with blossoms. 



" By October the trees are bare. The long, ellipsoidal, reddish 

 brown fruit capsules, with their pink seeds, soon follow the 

 leaves. The seeds, like all of this species, soon lose their 

 germinating power, which is probably the main reason why 

 the Ho-no-ki is still a stranger to our European gardens. The 

 Ho-no-ki in Japan surprises and delights every lover of plants, 

 and it is easy to agree with Dupont when he calls it more orna- 

 mental than Magnolia grandijiora. 



" The light, grayish-white wood changes gradually to a deeper 

 shade. It is soft, easily bent, and elastic, and has a fine, even 

 grain, which makes it applicable to many uses. The wood en- 

 graver uses it in patterns for cloth printing, and the lacquerer 

 finds it adapted to various small articles. The sides of the 

 pretty, light and durable oval bread baskets are generally made 

 out of Ho-no-ki. Two thin strips of the wood are bent around the 

 ellipitical pine wood bottom, their sharpened ends bent over 

 each other and glued, and tacked to the bottom board. Sword 

 sheaths (Katana-no-saya) were also formerly made out of Ho- 

 no-ki. In Niigata and Yonezawa it is used as the groundwork 

 of nearly half "of all the lacquer ware, and from it is prepared 

 the soft, fine grained charcoal which is used throughout the 

 whole of Japan for rubbing the lacquer and for polishing the 

 enamel of cloisonne ware." 



Taxits cuspidata is represented by a broad pyramidal speci- 

 men twelve feet high, the branches covering a space on the 

 ground forty feet round, and producing fruit sparingly. 

 This is by far the finest specimen I have ever seen. Taxiis 

 cuspidata, according to Rein, is " a bush or low tree eighteen 

 feet high, found mostly in Hida and in Yezo, and used 

 often as a decorative plant. Its highly valued wood is marked 

 by a beautiful red color, fine grain and great toughness. 

 On account of this last quality it is used by the Ainos for their 

 bows." The Japanese Yew is now considered by Maximowicz 

 a form of the widely distributed Taxus baccata, the so-called 

 English Yew. As seen in cultivation here it differs from the 

 common forms of that species by its longer leaves and by its 

 more strictly pyramidal habit. There seems no question of 

 the hardiness of the Japanese plant, even in the most exposed 

 positions ; and as it is the only Yew which grows to any size, 

 which is hardy in the extreme northern and eastern states, it 

 is destined, proVjably, to play a considerable part in the deco- 

 ration of northern gardens. This plant is still exceedingly 

 rare in cultivation, and little known in this country and in 

 Europe. 



Abies firnia appears in Dr. Hall's plantations in half a dozen 

 specimens twenty-five to thirty feet high, with stout, clean 

 trunks, bare of branches to a height of five or six feet from 

 the ground. The specimens are beautifully colored with dark 

 green leaves, and are growing with the greatest vigor, espe- 

 cially the main stems, tlie leading shoots of the year being all 

 two to three feet long and remarkably stout. Abies firma is 

 one of those trees which grows at the top at the expense of 

 the lower branches, which are generally weak, become shaded 

 by those above them, and so die early. This habit takes away 

 from its beauty as an ornamental tree, but makes it more valu- 

 able for forest-planting, where the production of long, straight 

 timber, free of knots, is desired. This species, the Momi of 

 the Japanese, is, according to Rein, "spread over the whole 

 of Japan; more general, however, in middle and northern 

 Hondo, and on the southern Islands. It is found chiefly, and 



in the highest development, in mixed forests, among the beau- ' 

 tiful deciduous woods, at an elevation of between 3,000 and 

 4,500 feet, seldom isolated. It develops the most magnifi- 

 cent trimk of all the Japanese Firs, and grows in parks and 

 temple groves to a height of ninety to 120 feet, with a circum- 

 ference of twelve to fifteen feet. In its entire bearing, as well 

 as in the character of its wood, this tree resembles our Abies 

 pectinata, but has a much slower growth. Its wood is lighter, 

 rougher and less tough than that of the Pine, hence cheaper 

 and less valued. It is seldom used in house building." 



The best specimens oi Picea polita I have seen are in this 

 plantation, the largest being about twenty feet high. They 

 are all well furnished to the ground, and have stout, vigorous 

 leaders. These specimens, of which there are half a dozen, 

 appear, on the whole, promising, although I noticed on one or 

 two of the trees that the leaves on the lower branches had 

 turned yellow and were falling, a not unusual thing with this 

 tree, which I believe, however, will prove to be one of the 

 most valuable of the Japanese Abietinice for this climate. It 

 makes, Rein tells us, " a fine stately tree, with the bearing of 

 Picea excelsa, belongs to the high mountain districts and north- 

 ern parts of Japan, and is little used. In modern times, on the 

 island of Yezo, however, it has been much employed in build- 

 ing." This species is the latest of all the Firs to begin its 

 growth here, and would, therefore, be valuable in countries 

 where late spring frosts are common. 



ChamcEcyparis {Retinospora) obtiisa has been used success- 

 fully by Dr. Hall in forming wind-breaks, which are now fully 

 twenty feet high ; and there are a number of fine single speci- 

 mens twenty to thirty feet high scattered through the planta- 

 tion. These represent one of the most graceful and desirable 

 forms of this exceedingly variable species, which, as it is seen 

 here, is very ornamental, although generally unsatisfactory in 

 this country. This tree, in Japan, occurs most generally on 

 mountain-sides, where it grows to a height of ninety or 100 

 feet, with a trunk three or four feet in diameter. It is the 

 Hi-no-ki of the Japanese, and " is particularly sacred to an- 

 cestry cultus (Shinto worship), and is cultivated on this account 

 more than any other. The wood is white or pink, smooth, 

 light and very tough, fine grained, poor in resin and free from 

 knots. It is preferred for lacquer ware, and used exclusively 

 for building Shinto temples. The palaces of the Mikado and 

 his family at Kioto were always built of Hi-no-ki wood, and 

 roofed with the bark of the tree, which, when very old, can be 

 easily cut into long stripes. Criminals condemned to harikari 

 (disemboweling) were formerly presented with a dagger upon 

 a small white unlacquered table of Hi-no-ki wood, and on a 

 similar one is offered the food and drink to the gods at fes- 

 tivals." 



There is a perfect specimen of Thiiiopsis dolabrata, twelve 

 to fourteen feet high, a large size for this country, where this 

 tree is, unfortunately, less hardy than many of the Japanese 

 conifers, but by no means an unusual one in Europe, where it 

 thrives admirably. According to Rein " the wood is yellow, 

 is marked by its durability in water, and is therefore much 

 used for stakes, as well as in ship and bridge building. It is 

 also employed for lacquer wares and window sashes." 



There are several specimens of Pinus densiflora, thirty-five 

 to thirty-eight feet high, with spreading branches resting on 

 the ground and covered with cones. The trunk of the largest 

 specimen girds forty-two inches three feet from the ground. 

 This is a picturesque, but hardly a handsome, tree. It has the 

 advantage, however, of growing rapidly on poor soil and of 

 being perfectly hardy. It is the P. Massoniana of many gar- 

 dens, but not the true P. Massoniana of Lambert, which is a 

 south China species, not hardy here. Rein says that "Pinus 

 densijlora (Kuro-matsu) makes the least requirements as to 

 soil of any tree in Japan. If the sand dunes, thrown up 

 by the waves of the sea, have attained some firmness through 

 the settlement of deeply rooted strand plants, among which 

 generally the creeping Juniper {Juniperus littoralis) is often 

 found, the Japanese turn them to good use by plantations of 

 Kuro-matsu. This Pine is, therefore, of very much the same 

 importance here as Pittus Pinaster in the French D^partement 

 Des Landes, which has been previously mentioned. From the 

 coast to 300 metres above the sea we find the Kuro-matsu on 

 land that would afford no support to other conifers. It comes 

 to its best as a shade tree on the country roads and in temple 

 court-yards. Trunks from 150 to 200 years old, with a circum- 

 ference of twelve to eighteen feet, and ninety to 100 feet high, 

 are here not infrequently found." 



Two plants in Dr. Hall's plantations, which I take to be 

 Abies Cilicica, surpass in beauty the Japanese plants ; and if 

 my determination of the species is correct, this is certainly one 

 of the most ornamental Silver Firs which will thrive in the 



