SOME FACTS ON FORESTRY CONDITIONS IN 

 SWEDEN.* 



By Max H. Foe^rster. 



The Kingdom of Sweden comprises 172,876 square miles, 8 per 

 cent, of which is water. As to size it is the sixth in rank of the 

 European countries. 



Longitudinally it extends about 900 miles south and north with 

 a breadth of only 180-240 miles. Stockholm, the capital and 

 center of the wood industry, is situated one-third of the longi- 

 tudinal distance from the southern end, Sundsvall and Hernoe- 

 sand not quite two-thirds of the distance. The distance of this 

 point from Berlin in airline is 700 miles, which is as far north 

 as Rome is south. 



Ages ago the kingdom was divided into three large provinces, 

 Goetarike, Svearike and Norrland. The first one comprises the 

 southern part of Sweden about as far as Norrkoping. Svearike 

 comprises central Sweden and extends along the coast to the lati- 

 tude of Gefle, but along the Norwegian boundary it continues 

 much farther north. Norrland includes the northern and largest 

 part of the country. At the present time it is the most important 

 part of Sweden as far as the wood industry is concerned. This 

 land division is, however, only of historical importance, but 

 continues to exist in the minds of the people. For purposes of 

 administration, Sweden is divided into 24 administrative districts. 



The population of Sweden is recorded as 5,300,000 inhabitants. 

 Of these 24,000 are Finns, residing in the northern part of Norr- 

 land, and about 7,000 are Lapps, living in Lappland, largely on 

 the proceeds from their reindeer herds. The residence of these 

 Mongolian people, especially the Finns, used to extend much 

 farther south in the interior part of the county. Hence the name 

 "Finnenwald" for the forest along the boundary between Swedish 

 Wermland and Norway, which still contains many reminiscences 

 of the Finnish inhabitants. The density of the population varies 

 considerably. Disregarding the cities, of which only two have 



*Translated from Allgemeine Forst- und Jagdseitung, April, 1910; ar- 

 ticle by Dr. C. Metzger. 



