The soil is nowhere particularly fertile, but the patient and painstaking labor of the Japanese has brought every available foot of it--little more than 10% is arable--into producing condition, wherever the climate compensates for the infertility, especially in the most densely populated part, the southern half of Hondo. Extending through 30 degrees of latitude, the climate naturally varies from the tropical one of Formosa, through all variations of the temperate, to the alpine one of the high mountains and the nearly arctic one of the Kurile islands. The Japan current skirting the eastern coast, and the mountain ranges, with elevations generally not exceeding 6,000 feet, occasionally up to over 13,000 feet, which cut off the dry continental west winds, also produce great climatic variations between east and west coasts. In general, however, the climate of the whole empire is characterized by a high percentage of relative humidity and ample rainfall, especially during the hot season, producing luxuriant growth. 1. _Forest Conditions, and Ownership._ Due to these great variations in climate, four climatic regions being differentiated, the forest flora of Japan almost rivals in variety that of the United States, with over 200 deciduous, and more than 30 coniferous species of size (besides a large number of half-trees), although not more than some 50 or 60 are of silvicultural importance, and not more than 10 or 12 species form the basis of forest management and of the lumber trade, which requires some two billion cubic feet annually, and supports an export of over six million dollars. The value of the total cut was, in 1907, placed at over 17 million dollars, of which six million was to the credit of the State Treasury. In the tropical districts, bamboos form the main staple; in the subtropical region, the most densely populated and hence also almost forestless, the broadleaf evergreens, especially several species of oak, furnish desirable fuel wood, and two species of pine are most valued for timber, one, the Red Pine (_P. densiflora_) extending its realm rapidly over waste areas; camphor tree and boxwood furnish ornamental wood. The region of temperate forest furnishes, out of over 60 species, some 14 conifers and 19 broadleaf trees of value, the former mainly of the cedar tribe, with _Chamaecyparis obtusa_ and _Cryptomeria japonica_ the most widely used, while of the broadleaf species, which occupy more than 50 per cent. of the forest area, _Zelkowa keaki_, of the elm tribe, a chestnut, a beech, several oaks, a walnut, and an ash count among the most useful. Spruce, Fir, and White Birch are the trees of the northern forest. Mixed forest forms 45%, broadleaf 25%, conifer 21%, and 9% is rated as blank or thinly stocked.