55 
The Vegetation of Japan. 
hoped for. The vegetation of these districts is little touched by 
human hands, so that the original features are exceedingly well seen* 
In Yezo, except perhaps its eastern parts, the temperature 
rises considerably in the summer, so that various sorts of grain and 
vegetables are produced, and especially excellent varieties of apple. 
The cultivation of the hop and flax, which meets with considerable 
success, may also be mentioned. 
In the Middle Region, plains and small hills are cultivated with 
rice, other grains, beans, peas, cucumber, egg-plant, radishes, 
turnips, mustard, Lagenaria, Colocasia antiqiiorum , potatoes, sweet 
potatoes, and so forth. Besides these vegetables one often comes 
across the cotton-plant, hemp, tobacco-plant, and mulberry, the last 
of which is utilized for sericulture. Various fruit-trees such as 
apricot, fig-tree, peach, pear, persimmon, orange, vine, and Erio- 
botrya are also grown. Nor must I omit to mention the tea-plant, and 
paper mulberry and Edgeworthia for paper manufacture. Various 
species of the bamboo, Phyllostachys, which, as already said, form a 
peculiar feature in the warmer parts of Japan and were probably 
introduced from China at an early period, yield valuable material 
for various purposes. Fences, pegs, baskets, arrows, trellis-work, 
hoops for barrels, shafts of umbrellas, cages, and fishing rods can be 
made out of the culm, while the sheath of the young shoot is useful 
for wrapping or for making hats or sandals. There are a good many 
species of bamboo, belonging to Arundinaria, Bambusa, and Sasa, 
used for similar purposes, or much valued as ornamental plants. A 
species of Dendrocalamus, from which a kind of paper can be 
manufactured, grows in Formosa. 
As a matter of course sub-tropical and tropical crops are grown 
in the Southern Region. In addition to those mentioned above in 
the Middle Region, there are such plants as bananas, coco-nut, pine¬ 
apple, and sugar-cane. Musa luchuensis yields a fibre of good 
quality, while an excellent kind of hat can be made out of the leaves 
of a screwpine. Tetrapancix papyrlfera , from the pith of which the 
so-called rice-paper is prepared, grows in Formosa. 
VII.— Introduced and Garden Plants. 
In this last chapter I may perhaps deal briefly with gardening 
and garden plants. 
Gardening must have been introduced from China together with 
other arts and especially with Buddhism. Buddhist priests may 
have been the first to construct gardens after the Chinese patterns, 
