282 Forestry Quarterly. 



additional loss. It was found that a dry rot as a secondary re- 

 sult had attacked to a large extent the roots of spruce and 

 deciduous trees, but the fear that this would lead to a consider- 

 able further loss seems so far not to have been realized. 



It is supposed that such a drought had not occurred within the 

 last 150 years, and therefore the damage is considered most un- 

 usual. 



Die Durresschdden z'on igii in den Anhaltischcn Staatsforsten. Zeit- 

 schrift fur Forst- und Jagdweseii, February, 1914, pp. 70-82. 



Fire insurance associations which insure 



Forest against forest fires alone exist in France. 



Fire Denmark and Norway. In the latter coun- 



Insurance. try a mutual fire insurance company was 



organized in 191 1, to which we referred in 



volume XI, p. 525. There is now the first report of this society 



at hand. 



Norway possesses about 23,000 square miles of productive 

 forest area, of which something over 61 per cent, is coniferous. 

 Of this 85 per cent, is owned privately. The total forest value 

 is estimated at 160 million dollars, or about $12.50 per acre. 

 There are strict laws and for most districts good organization 

 to combat forest fires, with all modern methods of look-out sta- 

 tions, telephones, telescopes, maps, etc. 



During the extraordinarily dry year of 191 1, after a number 

 of disastrous conflagrations, 50 of the largest private forest 

 owners, owning altogether nearly 500,000 acres, of the value of 

 around 5 million dollars, associated themselves for mutual pro- 

 tection, and by September, 1913, 1,372,000 acres, or 10 per cent, of 

 the forest area in the districts, valued at $9,000,000 were in- 

 sured, with the expectation of bringing up the insured values 

 to $20,000,000 by the end of the year. The premium paid on 

 acreage to the end of September was over $16,000 or 1.3 per 

 cent, of the insured values or 12 cents per acre. Only $72 dam- 

 age were paid out, and it was therefore possible to place $112,000 

 in reserve. 



The insurance is made only on young plantations and on the 

 forest soil, which are representing the most vulnerable part, since 

 matured stands suffer little, and since these are relatively high in 

 value and the premiums which would have to be paid would be 



