Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/468

the most valuable, growing with wonderful rapidity, and being available for building purposes and for the manufacture of household articles.

The subtropical growth has been divided into three classes, the broad-leaved evergreen, broad-leaved deciduous, and pine. The species of chief importance among the broad-leaved evergreen is the camphor-tree, which is sometimes found forming extensive forests, growing where the soil is clayey and fertile, and thriving especially well where sheltered from the north winds. The wood is hard and lustrous, and of a peculiar odour. It is valued for many purposes as timber as well as for camphor, and replanting, public and private, is the rule. The pine family is best represented by the red and black pine of commerce.

In the temperate climate are included over sixty species, the more important being of the broad-leaved class, including the fir (Chamæcyparis obtusa), which ranks first among trees in Japan in regard to the number of uses to which it is put.

Growth in the frigid zone is stunted, the principal wood being obtained from the Abies sachaliensis and the Picea ajansis, which grow luxuriantly in places, and are largely used architecturally and for earthworks. The fibre is coarse.

Fish and other marine products have constituted from olden times the most important article of food used by the Japanese people, a partiality also shared by the Chinese, who have for centuries been the principal purchasers of this product of Japanese industry. Owing to geographical position and to the direction of marine currents in the vicinity, and also to the abundance of suitable indentations along the well-wooded coast, Japan is an ideal country for the fisherman, and it is not surprising, therefore, that there are 900,000 families of fishermen or persons engaged in the marine industry, making a total of over 3,000,000 individuals, and using over 420,000 fishing-boats.

With the steady increase of population, and the greater perfection of transportation facilities in the interior, the demand for fishing products is showing a striking advance, a condition still further accelerated by the increasing demand from abroad. Under these circumstances the fishermen can no longer remain satisfied with coasting work alone, but are