company of Mr. Shirasawa in June, and after passing through the flat rice-fields which extend from the sea to the foot of the hills, entered the forest, which consists mainly of Thujopsis naturally reproduced, though here and there, trees of Quercus glandulifera, Magnolia hypoleuca, and other species occur, whilst Cryptomeria and Cupressus obtusa are planted in the valleys, and Larix leptolepis on those parts of the hills where the natural forest has been destroyed by fire. From observations taken at the meteorological observatory of Aomori, it appears that the climate of this part of Japan is cold in winter and the snowfall heavy, the thermometer falling in February to —15° Centigrade, and rising in September to 32°5° Centigrade; the average temperature for the whole year being 9°, and the average moisture 78 per cent. The average height of the trees here is about 70 to 80 feet, attaining in deep shady valleys 100 feet or perhaps more, and about 2 feet in diameter when closely grown, at the age of 150 to 180 years when it is considered ripe for felling.
The stems are often much curved at the butt from the pressure of the snow on the young seedlings, which require eight to ten years to get above its surface in winter, and these butts are usually cut separately and used for special purposes. The tree does not seem to have the power of reproducing itself from the stool, but produces abundant seed, which in dense shade germinates freely, though the growth of the seedlings is very slow at first.
The undergrowth of the forest is very different from what I saw in other parts of Japan, bamboo-grass (Arundinaria Veitchii) being much less prevalent, but in the damp places tall herbaceous plants were numerous, with Aucuba, Skimmia, and Ilex, and other evergreen shrubs on the drier ground, and many pretty liliaceous plants and orchids in places.
Goto says of this tree,[1] that it formed under the old regime, together with Cupressus pisifera, C. obtusa, Thuya japonica, and Sciadopitys, the so-called "Goboku" or Five Trees, which enjoyed careful protection at the hands of the feudal authorities; he also says that it is rarely planted, being regenerated naturally by seed, and that it forms extensive forests in a mixture with other conifers such as Thuya japonica and Pinus parviflora, in the mountains on the northern frontier of the province of Rikuchu, in Goyosan, and in the mountains of the Tone districts, Kozuké. It has lately come to be in great demand for railway sleepers.
Plate 60 (in Vol. I.) represents a dense growth of trees of this species in the forest of Uchimappe very similar to what I saw in the Kisogawa district at about 3000 feet. I am indebted to the Japanese Forest Department for the negative from which it was made.
The wood of Thujopsis is highly valued in those parts of Japan where it grows, on account of its great durability. This is proved by specimens shown at the St. Louis Exhibition, one of which had been used as a gate-post for eighty-three years, another as a plank in a fishing-boat for eighty-four years, others as railway sleepers in use for fourteen years. [he wood has an aromatic smell, takes a fine lustrous polish when planed, and is yellowish white in colour, showing a fine grain, which makes selected planks from the butt length very ornamental. Exceptional
- ↑ Forestry of Japan, 18 (1900).
