THE JAPANESE REVERE TREES.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 56, 29 November 1937, Page 4

THE JAPANESE REVERE TREES.

Japan has about 360 persons to" the square aiilej New Zealand has about 15; yet in Japan more than 55 per cent of the total Iiand area is kept under forest to supply timber, pulp-wood, fuel in the form (of charcoal, and other products. A large area of forest is reserved mainly to ensure regularity of stream-flow and to prev'ent soil-erosion and landslides. Additional reservations of serub lands bring tho aggregato of forestry reservations to 67 per cent of the total land area. "It is not utility alone which raakes forests vjalued by the Japanese," wrote the late E. Phillips Turner. "They have an innate reverence and love of trees, and they look upon groves of trees as temples of nature. Around all temples and shrines trees have been planted for beautification and the enhancement of the holiness of the localityi. Leading to the celebrated Nikko shrine there is an avenue of giant cryptomerias which is over thirty miles long. This avenue is «ne of the tree wonders of the world. It was planted about 300 years ago by a Daimyo -who thought he was too poor to offer a more costly tribute. With the possible exception of the Taj Mahal I would say it is the most beautiful and lasting memorial ever crepted by man# In all the large cities the widest strects are lined with ornamental trees, and even the smallest houSeholds usuajly have one ot more trees planted for ftxnajaejaV