^ THE CONIFERS. ^ 73 



undergrowth in coniferous forests. The wood is considered valuable, and, owing to its dura- 

 bility, is used in boat and bridge building. We saw planted trees in the coniferous forests 

 on the mountain-slopes near Nakatsu-gawa, in the vaUey of the Kisogawa, but no other 

 indication that it is valued as a timber or ornamental tree by the Japanese, who, according 

 to Dupont,^ have produced a number of varieties, of which the one with variegated foliage 

 only has reached our gardens. 



Of all the Japanese Conifers the most valuable is the Hi-no-ki, Chamsecyparis (Ketinospora) 

 obtusa. In the forests planted on the lower slopes of mountains in the interior of Hondo, and 

 in some of the temple groves, notably in those of Nikko, this fine tree attains a height of a 

 hundred feet, with a straight trunk without branches for fifty or sixty feet, and three feet 

 through at the ground. At elevations between 2,000 and 3,000 feet above the sea, usually 

 on northern slopes and in granitic soil, which it seems to prefer, the Hi-no-ki is largely 

 planted as a timber-tree ; indeed, only the Cryptomeria, which seems to be less particular about 

 soil and exposure, is more planted for timber in Japan. The tree is sacred among the disci- 

 ples of the Shinto faith, and is, therefore, cultivated in the neighborhood of all Shinto temples, 

 which are built exclusively from Hi-no-ki wood. The palaces of the Mikado in Kyoto were 

 always made of it, and the roof was covered with long strips of the bark. It is considered the 

 best wood to lacquer ; at festivals food and drink are offered to the gods on an unlacquered 

 table of this wood, and the victim of harakari received the dagger upon a table of the 

 same material. It is used for the frames of Buddhist temples and for the interior of the 

 most carefully finished and expensive houses. The wood is white or straw-color, or sometimes 

 pink, and in grade, texture, and perfume resembles that of the Alaska Cedar, Chamsecyparis 

 Nootkatensis. Like the wood of that tree, it has a beautiful lustrous surface, and is straight- 

 grained, light, strong, and tough, and remarkably free from knots and resin. In America we 

 have no wood of its class which equals it in value, with the exception of that furnished by the 

 two species of Chamsecyparis of the Pacific coast, and the Hi-no-ki might be introduced with 

 advantage as a timber-tree into those parts of the eastern states where it could find condi- 

 tions which would insure its growth. It has proved perfectly hardy in this country as far 

 north as Massachusetts, but the sea-level or the dry summers here do not suit any of the 

 Retinosporas, which give no promise of long life or great usefulness anywhere on the Atlantic 

 seaboard. They should be tried, however, on the slopes of the southern Alleghanies where 

 they could find conditions not very unlike those in which they flourish in their native land. 



The second species of this genus, Chamsecyparis pisifera, the Sawara, is a less valuable tree 

 than the Hi-no-ki, although the two species are always found growing together in plantations 

 and in temple gardens ; indeed, they can only be distinguished after some practice, unless the 

 cones are examined, although after a few days among them the more ragged crown, with its 

 looser and more upright branches, of the Sawara stands out clearly to the eye in contrast with 

 the Hi-no-ki with its rounder top and more pendulous branchlets. The wood is of a reddish 

 color, of a rougher grain, and less valuable than that of the Hi-no-ki, although the two trees 

 are planted in about equal numbers. As it grows here in our gardens, Chamsecyparis pisifera 

 is a less ornamental plant than Chamsecyparis obtusa; it grows, however, more vigorously, and 



1 Les Essences Forestieres du Japan. 



