appears astonishing, is perhaps exceptional, but all the plantations I saw gave evidence of extremely rapid growth, and showed a larger proportion of clean useful poles and timber than any plantations which I have seen in other countries.[1]
Timber
The wood is used for almost every purpose in Japan, but especially for tubs, staves, and building. Though not as valuable as the best wood of Cupressus obtusa for high-class buildings and internal work, it is, when properly selected, sawn, and planed, highly ornamental both in colour and grain, easy to work, durable, and strong enough for most purposes. It has also a most agreeable odour due to the presence of a volatile oil called sugiol by Kimoto,[2] who gives an analysis of it, and states that the wood on this account is used for making saké casks, the saké acquiring a peculiar pleasant aroma.
It varies very much in colour and figure, the most valuable being the wide planks—sometimes 3 to 4 feet wide and over—which are used for doors, ceilings, and partitions in the best houses. The darkest in colour comes from the southern island of Kiusiu, and is known as Satsuma sugi. When it shows a very fine red grain in old gnarled butts it is known as Ozura-moko, the best of this colour being very valuable. There is also a grey-coloured variety known as Gindai sugi, which appears to be taken from trees which have died before felling, but I could not get very definite information on this point.
The finest example I know of the ornamental use of Cryptomeria wood is the ceiling of the large dining-room in Kanaya's Hotel at Nikko, which is composed of panels about 30 inches square, cut from the butts of trees which show very curly and intricate graining, and without polish have a natural lustrous gloss. The Japanese never paint or varnish the wood in their houses inside or out, and attach more importance than European builders do to its quality, colour, and figuring. It seems very strange that none of the numerous travellers and writers on Japan have, so far as I can learn, as yet paid any attention to the beauty of the Japanese timbers. As a rule Cryptomeria is spoken of by English-speaking Japanese and Europeans as cedar, but sugi is the native name.
The bark of the tree is also largely used, when taken off in large sheets, for covering outbuildings of secondary importance, but does not appear to be so much valued or so durable as the bark of Cupressus obtusa, Thujopsis dolabrata, or Sciadopitys verticillata. An ounce of the seed contains about 50,000 seeds. For raising trees to plant in the colder parts of Europe I should certainly prefer seed from the natural forests of the north to what is grown in the subtropical climate of South and Central Japan, and I should therefore warn anyone wishing to plant this tree largely to be very careful about the origin of the seed or plants.
The value of this wood varies considerably in Japan according to locality and
