Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/466

The forests had, while the country remained secluded, maintained their primitive character, but the same influences which led to the expansion of Japanese commercial and political life also had their effect upon the extent and modes of forest utilization.

Besides a considerable increase in the home demand for timber and fuel in connection with industrial and mining enterprises, for telephone and telegraph poles, railway sleepers, various articles of manufactured wood-work, wood-pulp for paper-making, etc., the recent development in transportation facilities has awakened traders in forest products to the possibilities of profit from customers abroad, with the result that there is already a growing trade with China and Corea, as well as the beginning of a demand from the Western world.

The first result of these influences was an unequal and reckless felling of trees in unprotected areas, certain sections being quite denuded, while in Central Japan there still exist vast areas of woodland whose primitive features remain unaltered.

Owing to the fact that the empire of Japan consists of six larger and hundreds of smaller islands, all of volcanic origin, there exist within its borders extensive areas of steeply-mountainous territory, which is without practical value save for its forests and mines, and the Government is fully alive to the fact that, by scientific cultivation, these districts may remain a source of permanent income, especially in view of the fact that, in spite of the reckless waste alluded to, there still remain more than 56,000,000 acres of practically virgin forest. Of this vast area there are two general divisions, the ‘Utilization Forests’ and the ‘Protection Forests.’ The ‘Protection’ section is divided into two classes, ‘Absolute’ and ‘Ordinary.’ The ‘Absolute’ class is small, consisting of scarcely more than 12,000 acres, which is maintained intact, the felling of trees being positively forbidden. The ‘Ordinary,’ comprising some 1,667,421 acres, is only slightly less strenuously preserved. These two divisions of the ‘Protection’ areas of woodland are maintained in such districts and of such extent as may be deemed necessary and expedient for the preservation of the soil and the general welfare of the country.

All other forests in the country belong to the ‘Utilization’ division, and are left to the control of their owners, who may be private individuals, communes, the Imperial household, the State, or the Shinto and Buddhist temples. The properties thus held by the Imperial household and by the State are managed and cultivated in accordance with modern technical rules, and already give promise of greatly improved