996 JOURNAI, OF FORESTRY 



the rings of growth are carefully examined, and where a tree is found 

 not to be showing the same yearly average increase of growth as the 

 general tree average in that section, such tree is marked for cutting. 

 In other words, they remove the slow growers. The timber is cut into 

 8-foot lengths and each piece is hand-shaved in three parallel lines, 

 removing a 2-inch strip of bark. This is done for the purpose of 

 assisting the log in drying, thus materially reducing the loss in driving. 



The forestry departments of the mills have very accurate figures in 

 regard to the yearly growth of their forests, and they do not cut more 

 timber than grows each year. Any excess wood used is purchased 

 from Government limits and privately-owned tracts. This relationship 

 between growth and cut was generally maintained throughout Sweden 

 up to the time of the war, but has been upset by the fuel situation. 

 There is little coal in Sweden and the country has relied on English 

 coal, paying in normal times $2 to $2.50 per ton f.o.b. English port. 

 At the present time coal is worth from $45 to $55 a ton and is little 

 used. Hardwood has therefore been largely substituted, not only as 

 a domestic fuel, but for the industries including the pulp mills. Even 

 the locomotives are burning wood. This enormous use of wood fuel 

 has seriously broken the balance between the amount grown and the 

 amount cut. 



There is a firmly established principle among these mills to invest 

 their surpluses in timber limits, and some mills have invested in 

 Russian limits. As soon as a stable government appears in Russia 

 there will be a general movement in this direction. Norway has for 

 years been buying pulpwood from Russia, mostly in the region of 

 the Riga. The present cost of wood in Norway amounts to about 

 $57.57 per ton of sulphite pulp, bringing the cost of the pulp f.o.b. 

 mill up to $100 per ton of 2,000 pounds. The cost of wood in Sweden 

 is somewhat lower, and is less in northern than in southern Sweden. 

 The cost of wood per ton of sulphite pulp in these two regions is $31 

 and $43 to $47 respectively. The cost of manufacturing sulphate 

 pulp in Sweden increased from $27.44 per ton in 1913 to $98.62 in 

 1919. The chief items causing this increase were the rise in wood 

 from $14.75 to $42.50; fuel, $2.50 to $26.10; pyrites, $1.30 to $7.75; 

 wages, $3.14 to $9.25; freight to Gothenberg, $1.21 to $4.02. 



There is also much interesting information on the labor situation, 

 the financial condition of the mills, etc. 



A. F. H. 



