THE OUTLOOK OF THE WORLD'S TIMBER SUPPLY. 365 



Taking the three countries together, the average forest area per 

 head of population comes to 1 "6 acres. Of this, "3 of an acre is 

 State forest, and 1*3 acres private forest. The annual production 

 of timber in these forests, of the class now exported, has been 

 estimated at 16,000,000 tons, which is equal to 18 cubic feet per 

 head of population, or just about the annual consumption in 

 Germany. Taking into consideration the increase of population 

 and the development of industries which has lately set in, the time 

 does not seem far off when the Austrian Empire will require 

 all the timber which her forests produce. But this is not all. 

 Bosnia and Herzegovina, no doubt, have still considerable surplus 

 stocks, but the forests of Hungary have been considerably over- 

 worked. Even as regards the State forests in that part of the 

 monarchy, the Director-General of the Forests has publicly stated 

 that the standing crop of timber is some 30 per cent, below the 

 normal quantity, or the amount which should be present to permit 

 of a permanent supply like that lately taken out of the forests. 

 The condition in the private forests is still worse, so that Hungary, 

 at any rate, must reduce its cuttings. Again, of the forests in 

 Austria proper more than half the area is situated above an eleva- 

 tion of 3000 feet, so that their annual growth is small. Even 

 now an agitation is going on in Austria for the imposition of an 

 export duty on raw timber, so as to check it. More than half the 

 quantity of timber exported goes to Germany, and the opinion has 

 been expressed that that country will soon have to look elsewhere 

 for sources of supply to meet the increasing demand for timber in 

 its industries. In short, Austria-Hungary is not likely to remain 

 an exporting country for more than a limited number of years. 

 This means that Germany must more and more compete with 

 Britain in the Baltic timber trade, thus not only reducing the 

 supplies available for Britain and other countries, but also con- 

 siderably raising prices. 



Sweden. 



Tons. Value. 



Present aimual net exports, . 4,460,000 £7,930,000 



The exports have just about doubled during the last thirty 

 years ; the average annual increase during the last ten years has 

 been equal to 76,000 tons, or about at the rate of 2 per cent. 

 The timber goes mostly to Britain, and next to France, Germany, 

 Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, and elsewhere. Sweden has 



