in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. (See also Appendix XXX.) Japan, which lies between the latitudes of Cairo and the Crimea, may be said to consist of mountains, of which fifty are active volcanoes, with some land, either hilly or boggy, at the foot of them.  It is nowhere more than 200 miles across and in one place is only 50.  A note on the ocean currents which exercise an influence on agriculture will be found on page 195.  The protection afforded to the eastern prefectures by mountain ranges is obvious.  Generally the summer temperature of Japan is higher and the winter temperature is lower than is recorded in Europe and America within the same latitudes.

“The mild climate and abundant rainfall,” says the Department of Agriculture, “stimulate a luxuriant forest development throughout the country which in turn provides ample fountain heads for rivers.  The rivers and streams run in all directions, affording opportunity for irrigation all over the country.  The insular position of the country renders its humidity high and its rainfall abundant when compared with Continental countries.  The rainy season prevails during the months of June and July, making this season risky for the harvest of wheat and barley; on the other hand it affords a beneficent irrigation supply to paddy-grown rice, which is the most important crop.  The characteristic feature of the climate in the greater part of the islands is the frequency of storms in the months of August and September.  As the flowers of the rice plant commence to bloom during the same period, these late summer storms cause much damage.”

The weather in Tokyo in 1918 was as follows: 

-------------------------------------------------------

------------------
|Jan.|Feb.|Mar.|Apl.| May|June|July|Aug.|Sept.|Oct.|Nov.|Dec.
------------------------------------------------------------

-------------
Rain and    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |     |    |    |
snow (mm.)|  10|  65| 163| 108| 123| 149|  82|  78|  202| 135| 142| 80
Temp. (C.)  | 1.6| 3.6| 6.7|11.7|16.7|20.2|26.0|26.0| 22.6|16.0|10.4|3.9
------------------------------------------------------------

-------------

The varied climate of Japan is indicated by the following statistics for centres as far distant as Nagasaki in the extreme south-west and Sapporo in Hokkaido: 

-------------------------------------------------------

--------------
|Nagasaki| Kyoto |Tokyo | Niigata | Aomori | Sapporo
----------------|--------|-------|------|---------|--------|

---------
Days of rain or|        |       |      |         |        |
snow          |   179  |   176 |  144 |    218  |  229   |    216
Average        |        |       |      |         |        |
temp. (C.)    |  14.9  |  13.6 | 13.8 |   12.5  |  9.4   |    7.3
Maximum        |  36.7  |  37.2 | 36.6 |   39.1  | 36.0   |   33.4
Minimum        |  5.6 | 11.9| 8.1|   9.7 | 19.0 |  25.6
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The italicised temperatures are below zero.  Average dates of last frost:  Tokyo, April 6; Nagoya, April 13; Matsumoto, May 17.