152 
for it they pay thirty-two to forty yen per picul, or twelve to 
fifteen cents per pound. The cost of transportation from Texas 
to Yokohama is $1.35 gold per one hundred pounds. 
I was told that their cotton imports amounted to approximately 
50,000 tons annually. Most of this comes from India — a cheap 
inferior article. The balance comes from China and the United 
States, the cotton from the latter country being much superior to 
any of the others. A small quantity of Egyptian cotton is im- 
ported, but comparatively little long staple cotton is used. Sam- 
ples of Hawaiian cottons will be gladly received and offers will 
l3e quoted. It was easy to see that the possibility of obtaining 
cotton from Hawaii interests the Japanese importers, especially 
since it has been definitely settled that cotton cannot be grown 
economically in Japan. Ten years ago, it is reported, there were 
50,000 acres or more devoted to the cultivation of cotton. At the 
present time there are hardly more than 1000 acres, and this 
cotton is largely for private use by the peasantry. 
On my arrival at the Central Experiment Station at Nishiga- 
hara, near Tokyo, Director Kozai had a very complete plan out- 
lined to aid me in visiting the principal rice-growing regions, and 
especially the Kinai Branch Station at Kashihara, near Osaka, 
where the work is entirely given over to rice breeding; the Kin- 
shin Branch Station at Kumamoto, where the diseases and insect 
pests of rice are studied, and the Prefecture Demonstration Sta- 
tions at Eukuoka, Yamaguchi and Akashi. 
Before starting on this trip I spent four days at the Central 
Station in order to familiarize myself with their work and 
methods. This institution, established in 1890, and the out- 
growth of Japan’s first attempts some forty years ago to improve 
agriculture by scientific methods, supervises the Experiment Sta- 
tion work of the entire Empire. Its various departments are 
well organized. The staff consists of about thirty specialists and 
numerous assistants, numbers of whom received their technical 
training abroad. While its buildings are unpretentious, the equip- 
ment is excellent and the men and their work impress one as ex- 
ceptionally good. 
(To be Continued.) 
THE MEANING OF CONSERVATION. 
A paper read before the Public Question Club on February 18, and before 
the Social Science Association, Honolulu, on May 2, 1910. 
By Ralph S. Hosmer, 
Chairman, Territorial Conservation Commission of Hawaii. 
! 
Within the last three years a new term. Conservation, has 
found a place in the American vocabulary. At first a somewhat 
