the trees of great britain & ireland - Facsimile Books & other digitally ...
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136 The Trees <strong>of</strong> Great Britain and Ireland<br />
appears astonishing, is perhaps exceptional, but all <strong>the</strong> plantations I saw gave<br />
evidence <strong>of</strong> extremely rapid growth, and showed a larger proportion <strong>of</strong> clean useful<br />
poles and timber than any plantations which I have seen in o<strong>the</strong>r countries. 1<br />
TIMBER<br />
The wood is used for almost every purpose in Japan, but especially for tubs,<br />
staves, and building. Though not as valuable as <strong>the</strong> best wood <strong>of</strong> Cupressits obtusa<br />
for high-class buildings and internal work, it is, when properly selected, sawn, and<br />
planed, highly ornamental both in colour and grain, easy to work, durable, and strong<br />
enough for most purposes. It has also a most agreeable odour due to <strong>the</strong> presence<br />
<strong>of</strong> a volatile oil called sugiol by Kimoto, 2 who gives an analysis <strong>of</strong> it, and states that<br />
<strong>the</strong> wood on this account is used for making saktf casks, <strong>the</strong> sakt acquiring a peculiar<br />
pleasant aroma.<br />
It varies very much in colour and figure, <strong>the</strong> most valuable being <strong>the</strong> wide<br />
planks sometimes 3 to 4 feet wide and over which are used for doors, ceilings, and<br />
partitions in <strong>the</strong> best houses. The darkest in colour comes from <strong>the</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>rn island<br />
<strong>of</strong> Kiusiu, and is known as Satsuma sugi. When it shows a very fine red grain in old<br />
gnarled butts it is known as Ozura-moko, <strong>the</strong> best <strong>of</strong> this colour being very valuable.<br />
There is also a grey-coloured variety known as Gindai sugi, which appears to be<br />
taken from <strong>trees</strong> which have died before felling, but I could not get very definite<br />
information on this point.<br />
The finest example I know <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ornamental use <strong>of</strong> Cryptomeria wood is <strong>the</strong><br />
ceiling <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> large dining-room in Kanaya's Hotel at Nikko, which is composed <strong>of</strong><br />
panels about 30 inches square, cut from <strong>the</strong> butts <strong>of</strong> <strong>trees</strong> which show very curly and<br />
intricate graining, and without polish have a natural lustrous gloss. The Japanese<br />
never paint or varnish <strong>the</strong> wood in <strong>the</strong>ir houses inside or out, and attach more<br />
importance than European builders do to its quality, colour, and figuring. It seems<br />
very strange that none <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> numerous travellers and writers on Japan have, so far<br />
as I can learn, as yet paid any attention to <strong>the</strong> beauty <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Japanese timbers.<br />
As a rule Cryptomeria is spoken <strong>of</strong> by English-speaking Japanese and Europeans<br />
as cedar, but sugi is <strong>the</strong> native name.<br />
The bark <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tree is also largely used, when taken <strong>of</strong>f in large sheets, for<br />
covering outbuildings <strong>of</strong> secondary importance, but does not appear to be so much<br />
valued or so durable as <strong>the</strong> bark <strong>of</strong> Cupressiis obtusa, Thujopsis dolabrata, or<br />
Sciadopitys verticillata. An ounce <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> seed contains about 50,000 seeds. For<br />
raising <strong>trees</strong> to plant in <strong>the</strong> colder parts <strong>of</strong> Europe I should certainly prefer seed<br />
from <strong>the</strong> natural forests <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> north to what is grown in <strong>the</strong> subtropical climate <strong>of</strong><br />
South and Central Japan, and I should <strong>the</strong>refore warn anyone wishing to plant this<br />
tree largely to be very careful about <strong>the</strong> origin <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> seed or plants.<br />
The value <strong>of</strong> this wood varies considerably in Japan according to locality and<br />
1 Tables <strong>of</strong> Production and Rate <strong>of</strong> Growth in Japan are given by Honda in Bull. Coll. Agric. Tokyo Imp. Univ. ii. 335<br />
(1894-1899). 2 Bull. Coll. Agric. Tokyo Imp. Univ. iv. 403 (1900-1902).<br />
Cryptomeria<br />
quality, but about 80 yen per 100 cubic feet, equal to about is. 8d. per foot, is <strong>the</strong><br />
price in Tokyo, and selected half-inch boards for ceilings and panellings cost from 2s.<br />
to 4.3. each.<br />
Rein, in Industries <strong>of</strong> Japan, p. 226, speaks <strong>of</strong> a Cryptomeria which he measured<br />
in 1874 having at \\ metres high a girth' <strong>of</strong> 9.41 metres, equal to about 30 feet.<br />
This grew on <strong>the</strong> Sasa-no-yama-toge, between Tokyo and K<strong>of</strong>u, at about 750 metres<br />
above sea level.<br />
Weston, in The Alps <strong>of</strong> Japan, mentions <strong>trees</strong> high up on <strong>the</strong> eastern side<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> pass between Nakatsugawa and <strong>the</strong> Ina-kaido, called <strong>the</strong> Misaka-toge,<br />
on <strong>the</strong> nor<strong>the</strong>rn slope <strong>of</strong> Ena-San, which measured at 3 feet from <strong>the</strong> ground no<br />
less than 26 feet in girth. It would not be supposed possible that in a country<br />
where nei<strong>the</strong>r machinery nor horse-power is used for <strong>the</strong> removal <strong>of</strong> timber such<br />
large <strong>trees</strong> could be utilised, but <strong>the</strong> Japanese are very ingenious in <strong>the</strong> handling<br />
<strong>of</strong> large logs in <strong>the</strong>ir mountain forests.<br />
I was presented by Baron Kiyoura, Minister <strong>of</strong> Agriculture, with a most curious<br />
and interesting series <strong>of</strong> sketches, which I found in <strong>the</strong> Imperial Bureau <strong>of</strong> Forestry,<br />
showing <strong>the</strong> means adopted for felling and transporting large timber growing in<br />
rocky gorges and <strong>the</strong> most inaccessible situations. These I exhibited at a meeting<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Scottish Arboricultural Society at Edinburgh on loth February 1905.<br />
The modus operandi is as follows: First men climb up <strong>the</strong> <strong>trees</strong> and lop <strong>of</strong>f<br />
all <strong>the</strong> large branches, so that <strong>the</strong> tree may not lodge among its standing neighbours<br />
when felled. Ropes are <strong>the</strong>n attached to <strong>the</strong> trunk and carried round a windlass, so<br />
that it may be pulled over in <strong>the</strong> right direction.<br />
When <strong>the</strong> tree is felled it is cut into suitable lengths, <strong>of</strong>ten 20 to 30 feet long,<br />
and a hole cut in <strong>the</strong> end, to which a stout rope is attached. By this it is some<br />
times dragged, sometimes lowered, to <strong>the</strong> nearest slide, which is built up <strong>of</strong> smaller<br />
timber. Or, if <strong>the</strong> locality is too distant from a slide or from a stream large enough<br />
to float it, a platform is built on <strong>the</strong> mountain-side, on which it is sawn into boards,<br />
which are carried out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> forest on men's backs, or on sledges on <strong>the</strong> snow.<br />
A most ingenious plan, which I have seen in no o<strong>the</strong>r country, is adopted where<br />
<strong>the</strong> slope <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mountain is too steep to let a log slide at its own pace.<br />
The slide is built in a zig-zag form, and at each angle a bank is made and<br />
covered with earth and bark to check <strong>the</strong> impetus <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> log, whose upper end<br />
when so checked is reversed by means <strong>of</strong> a strong pole laid across <strong>the</strong> slide, and<br />
<strong>the</strong>n goes downwards till it reaches <strong>the</strong> next angle, where it is again checked and<br />
reversed by its own weight.<br />
To see a large gang <strong>of</strong> men, all singing in chorus at <strong>the</strong>ir work, moving timber<br />
in a mountain forest under <strong>the</strong> direction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir foremen, is one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most<br />
interesting sights I beheld in Japan, and I could not sufficiently admire <strong>the</strong> pluck,<br />
activity, and ingenuity <strong>the</strong>y showed in <strong>the</strong> very dangerous and difficult work which<br />
is necessary when logs get jammed, as <strong>the</strong>y <strong>of</strong>ten do in <strong>the</strong>se rapid mountain<br />
torrents; and when men, standing on small rafts fastened to boulders in a roaring<br />
rapid, or let down from above by ropes, have to dislodge <strong>the</strong> logs from where <strong>the</strong>y<br />
have stuck fast.