The Country Gentleman- s Magazine 



579 



ON THE SUPPLY OF TIMBER FROM SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



BY ANDREW MURRAY, F.L.S. 



(Concluded from page-4Si.) 



THE statistics given in the previous part 

 of this paper, although strongly sug- 

 gestive of over consumption, do not in them- 

 selves prove it. When we see a man 

 indulging in great expenditure, one not un- 

 naturally surmises that he is exceeding his 

 income, but unless we know what the income 

 is we can do no more than surmise. De- 

 sirous of obtaining something more to go 

 upon with regard to the expenditure of 

 timber by Sweden than mere suspicion, I set 

 myself to ascertain what her legitimate income 

 in timber really is, and with this view I pro- 

 pounded various questions to my correspon- 

 dents in that country, by which I proposed 

 to learn (i) the amount of land under timber, 

 and (2) the amount of timber that an acre 

 will carry.- These should give the income. 

 ■We already know one portion of the expendi- 

 ture — viz., the exports; and if we could in 

 addition learn the amount of the consumption 

 at home, we should then have all the data 

 necessary not only to tell whether Sweden 

 is exceeding her income, but by how much, 

 and how long (always supposing no change 

 to take place) it would be before the inevit- 

 able catastrophe of total exhaustion came. 



I have received replies tp my inquiries, but 

 so uncertain that no absolute inference can 

 be drawn from them ; but, at the same time, 

 so valuable, that I think it advisable to put 

 them on record, so as to serve as a basis for 

 others to start from in the search which may 

 lead to more definite conclusions. 



I. As to the amount of land under wood in 

 Sweden my correspondent writes as follows : — 



"As to the extent of the area covered with 

 ti'ood nobody knows anything with certainty. 

 The only calculation which has obtained 

 some authority is the one given by the late 

 Hofjagermaster of Strom, according to which 

 the accessible wood-land in Sweden should 

 be 1 1 23 Swedish square miles — /.f., about 



2)Z per cent, of the area of the whole country 

 Still, I beUeve these figures to be too low, 

 and think that from what is already known a 

 more exact result may be arrived at. To da 

 so, the area of Sweden south of Delarne must 

 be distinguished from that of the six northern 

 counties (Liin). Now, the area of the wood 

 in the seven counties (Lan) south of Delarne 

 and in three of the northern counties is known 

 rather approximatively, and as these counties 

 are in such a state that they may be con- 

 sidered as representing the others, I believe 

 the most certain result is to be attained by 

 calculating the area of the woods of the 

 whole country on the same ratio as that of 

 the known counties. 



" The result would then be 37 per cent, of 

 the mainland south of Delarne, as the lakes 

 are to be deducted (i 157 square miles), which 

 will give 427 square miles wood field; and 68 

 per cent, in Norrland, 7vith exception of Lapp- 

 mar Jurne (138 1 square miles), which will 

 give 939 square miles. The wood area of 

 Sweden, with the exception of Lappmarkerne, 

 should thus be 1366 Swedish square miles. 

 The proportion luilii Lappmarkerne is of 

 course still more uncertain. That a consider- 

 able part of- Lappmarkerne is overgrown with 

 wood is known for certain, but how much ? 



three-fourths of Lappmarkerne might be wood- 

 land, but this might be too high, for accord- 

 ing to the limit for the growth of trees given 

 by C. A. Petterson in his book about Lap- 

 land, it seems as if about a third part of Lap- 

 land should be within this limit — /. c., 319 

 square miles. If we add the last named, 319 

 square miles to the former 1366, the wood- 

 land of whole Sweden and Lapland would 

 be 1685, or very near 1700 square miles. 

 The figures of the absolute area are taken 

 from the statistical descriptions of Hahr's 

 map of Sweden," 



