Periodical Literature G19 



Cheap transportation by water, the rivers being of easy grades, 

 all short to sea, yet amply supplied with water, and the average 

 haul not over 4 to 5 miles, has given to Sweden its position in the 

 world's timber market. The water transportation also improves 

 the quality of the wood; it becomes less hygroscopic, less liable to 

 shrink and swell, to tw^st, to check, to rot. It is more easily 

 sawed than dr^^ wood, hence produces more lumber. Yet the 

 disadvantages of driving and rafting, damage to logs, sinkers, 

 himg-up drives, jams, etc., damage of all sorts, are not absent. 

 Details regarding water conditions and methods of driving, sort- 

 ing, etc., are given, which latter do not differ much from American 

 usage. 



In regard to wages at the booms, the practice is to hold back a 

 certain amoimt, which is not paid until the season's work is finished, 

 so as to keep laborers steady. At one booming ground 800 men 

 work day and night sorting the logs of different owners ; at another 

 100,000 logs a day is the task. The loss by sinkers and otherwise 

 for sawlogs is from 1 to 3%, for pulpwood 8 to 10%. 



The logs are made from 10 to 30 feet, 18 feet average, and top 

 diameter 7 inch or more, rarely over 12 inch, average 8 inch, i. e., 

 only small logs, and a further reduction in size is anticipated. 

 The number of logs driven in any one water system counts by the 

 million. A few examples of cost of transportation are given as 

 3 to 7 cents per log (including damage from driving). On the 

 Angermanelf with a length of about 250 miles the cost is between 

 5 and 6 cents, about one-tenth of what railway transportation 

 would cost; for pulpwood the cost woiild be not over 2 cents per 

 piece. The rivers are divided into districts of from 3 to 25 miles 

 length, and the boom company charges differently for each 

 district according to the difficulties per normal logs of certain 

 length and diameter, so that a just distribution of cost is secured. 

 The damage to adjoiners is ascertained by an expert jury, and for 

 a given district (Dalekarlien) amounts annually to about $6,000. 

 The cost of up-keep of dams, etc., is figured at about $650 per mile, 

 while maintenanfce of railways would require about $20,000 per 

 mile. In other words, logging is cheap in Sweden, and with an 

 export of over $50,000,000 (40% of which goes to Great Britain), 

 its wood trade represents nearly 50% of all exports. 



Fine forstliche Stiidienreise nach Schweden. Centralblatt fur das gesammte 

 Forstwesen, January and February, March and April, 1914, pp. 57-72, 138-148. 



