On the Siif'ply of Timber from Xorivaj' and Sucdcn 



583 



acres into tons, she might consume 2,500,000 

 tons. 2. We have seen that she exported 

 in 1864 403,000 lasts — equal to 806,000 tons 

 (two tons making one last) ; and if to this we 

 add ten times this amount for home consump- 

 tion, that being the proportion which wc have 

 given in our reports from Sweden, the exports 

 being stated at only a tenth of the home 

 consumption, we should have her actually 

 consuming 8 or 9,000,000 of tons as against 

 2,500,000, which she may fairly consume. In 

 other words, on these data it would appear that 

 Nonvay is consuming and exporting more 

 than three times as much as she ought to do, 

 if she wished not to encroach on her capital 

 stock of timber. 



She has 26,000,000 of acres of forest 

 altogether, and she is, according to the above 

 calculation running through it af the rate of 

 870,000 acres per annum. At this rate it 

 would take only 30 years to consume it, and 

 supposing an amount equal to what is cut 

 down to be every year replanted, either by 

 Nature or man, she would have at the end of 

 30 years no forests older than that age. This 

 is a much worse result than that obtained for 



Sweden, but it would still appear that both 

 are encroaching, although at different rates, 

 upon their capital of timber. There is, how- 

 ever, so much that is conjectural in both, that 

 we cannot ask the reader to accept them as 

 justifying more than a call for more reliable 

 information. Their apparent tendency, if 

 not sufficient to occasion alarm, can scarcely 

 be viewed without uneasiness. It is not an 

 irrelevant subject to us. There is no looking 

 on as indifferent spectators in such matters ; 

 so nicely balanced are the demand and supply 

 of the civilized world that it is scarcely possi- 

 ble to estimate the inconvenience, we may 

 say the misery, which any derangement of 

 these proportions in such an essential article 

 as timber would entail upon all who use it 

 (and who does not ?). 



There is much reason to wish, therefore, 

 that the Governments of Sweden and Nonvay 

 would make inquiry into the subject, and if 

 they found that the consumption is excessive 

 that they then take steps to bring the annual 

 consumption of wood into more just propor- 

 tion with the total they possess than seems 

 to be the case at present. 



STUDIES GF THE BARK OF TREES. 



4. SCOTS FIR 



THE character of the bark of the Scots 

 Fir is different in different parts of the 

 tree. Putting out of view its appearance, as 

 seen on the young twigs where the scars left 

 at the insertion of the leaves (the phyllul^), 

 it has three other phases in a large well-grown 

 tree- At the lower part of the tree it is deeply 

 and longitudinally broadly furrowed, and the 

 spaces between the furrows scale off more or 

 less in large, long irregularly oblong patches. 

 The spaces between the furrows are broader 

 than the farrows, and are flat, or even a little 

 hollovv-er in the middle. Fig. i shews this 

 state. Higher up, or when the tree is not so 

 old, the scales are smaller, and in particular 

 are not so long — they are short and irregu- 

 arly shaped ; and still further up, it is smooth 



and slightly scaly, but to the eye, at a mode- 

 rate distance, it looks quite smooth. This 

 phase may be obser^-ed in the higher branches 

 as in fig. 2. 



5. THE BIRCH. 



No tree that we know has a more beautiful 

 bark than a birch tree, nor any that comes 

 more effectively into the landscape. It is no 

 wonder that it is a favourite with artists, some 

 of v/hom have carried the use of it into man- 

 nerism. It is, for example, as rare to find a 

 picture of Ruysdael's without a bit of birch 

 tree in it as it is to see one of Wouverman's 

 without a grey horse and something with a red 

 coat or cloak on its back. But there is one 

 thing about Ruysdael's birch trees which has 

 always discomposed us. It is their size, and 



