cases occur in which the wood is curiously mottled and freckled. A ceiling and a screen made of such wood, which I saw in the Forestry Bureau at Aomori, were very beautiful.
The wood weighs about 30 lbs. per cubic foot, and is worth at Aomori from 40 to 50 yen per 100 cubic feet, or about 1s. per cubic foot. It is much valued not only for joinery and building purposes, but for foundations, ship and boat building, as it is stronger and more resinous than other woods of the same character.
The bark also, which is thin, tough, and durable, is much used for roofing and for partitions and walls of out-houses, fences, etc.
Cultivation
T. Lobb sent a plant from the Botanical Garden at Buitenzorg in Java, to Exeter in 1853, which died; and soon after, Capt. Fortescue, a cousin of Earl Fortescue, brought a plant from Japan which was planted at Castlehill in 1859. But this tree, as I learn from Mr. Pearson, the head gardener, has been dead for some time, though plants raised from its cuttings are still growing at Castlehill and elsewhere.
In 1861 Mr. J.G. Veitch and R. Fortune sent seeds from Japan to the Chelsea and Ascot Nurseries, from which plants were raised and generally distributed, so that the tree is now common in England.
From what I have said of its habitat in Japan it is clear that though this tree is hardy as regards frost in winter, it requires conditions which are rarely found in England to bring it to any size, and, as a matter of fact, it has not yet become a tree anywhere except in Devonshire and Cornwall, though perhaps if seeds from North Japan are obtained the results might be better.
Though no doubt it has ripened seeds elsewhere, I have never obtained any which germinated, except from a tree planted about 1881 by Queen Alexandra in the Earl of Northbrook's grounds at Stratton Park, Hants, which I gathered in October 1900. One of these grew, and is now a healthy plant about g inches high. It seems to suffer less from spring frost than many Japanese and Himalayan conifers.
The finest tree that I have seen in England is at Killerton, which in 1902 measured 35 feet 6 inches in height and 2 feet 4 inches in girth. It is growing on a slope facing south-west in a peculiar soil, which Sir C.T.D. Acland describes as "Trap, soft below the surface, but hard after exposure. This trap overlies red sandstone, but is rather darker and more porous." This soil evidently suits most conifers admirably, as I have seen no other collection which contains so many fine specimens as this.
At Boconnoc, at Carclew, and at other places in Cornwall there are trees approaching this in height, but we have not seen any specimen above 15 to 20 feet in other parts of England, though as a bushy shrub 12 feet high it exists in most modern gardens. In Scotland it seems hardy in the west and in Perthshire, whilst at Castlewellan in Ireland it has attained 30 feet in height. At Powerscourt and Kilmacurragh, Wicklow, there are trees with the lower branches layering and forming numerous independent stems. (H.J.E.)
