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EAST ASIA.
whole, the flowers are more brilliant, but less odoriferous than in our temperate
zone. On the other hand, the forests present a greater diversity of species than
in any other country, the tropics themselves not excepted. During a short stroll,
and without leaving the beaten track, the botanist will meet with a hundred
different varieties, for Japan, even more than China, is especially distinguished for
the large proportion of its arborescent species. Nowhere else within an equal
range are there met so many different kinds of conifers and caducous trees, and
the bright red or scarlet autumnal tints of the Japanese woodlands are even
more beautiful than those of North America. Unfortunately, in many upland
regions, the forests have been destroyed, and replaced by thickets of shrubs and
creepers.
The finest forests clothe the hillsides between 1,500 and 3,000 feet above sea
level. But the splendid cryptomerioe, the glory of the land, are no longer found
in the wild state north of Tokio. The avenues of these trees in the Tosan-do dis-
trict and in Yeso have been planted by the hand of man. The Hinoki cypress
(chamcecyparis), used in the building of shrines and for other religious purposes,
being a hardier plant, is still found at an elevation of 5,500 feet in the Tosan-do
Highlands. Leafy trees scarcely rise higher than 5,000 feet, but the spruce and
larch are met at a height of 6,500 feet, while rampant conifers creep up to 8,000
feet and upwards.
Except the potato and tobacco, of American origin, all the cultivated plants
come from the East, whence Japan received its improved agricultural methods as
well as its other arts. Rice, the mulberry, the cotton and tea plants, as well as
most of the fruit-trees of the temperate zone, have been acclimatised. But the
damp climate tends to swell the fruits, to the detriment of their flavour, so that
the products of the Japanese orchards are, on the whole, far inferior to those of
Europe and the United States.
"
Very misleading statements have been made as to both the extent and the
lucrativeness of agriculture in Japan. For instance, it used to be said that the
mountains of Japan were cultivated to their summits. How wide this statement is
from the truth will appear from the fact that, of the 28,000,000 cho (one cho=
2-4507 acres) of land in Japan less than 4^ millions are cultivated. Of the re-
mainder far the greater part is covered with forests. It is true that the plains are
cultivated with extraordinary care, and that among the lower hills every spot to
which water can be brought is terraced for rice-culture. But there are great
mountain tracts which have scarcely been brought under the sway of man, and of
these as well as of the drier
slopes above and around the paddy-fields, much is capable
of cultivation.
" Then the luxuriant verdure of the country the most luxuriant outside the
tropics is apt to give a mistaken notion as to the fertility of the soil. We see
everywhere a magnificent flora. The plains are adorned in summer with every
variety of green, from that of the young rice to that of the veteran pine. The
valleys luxuriate in an overwhelming mass of foliage, and the mountain- slopes are
for thousands of feet clad with an unbroken mantle of trees. Nevertheless it is true