OUR FORESTRY PROBLEM. 215 



a year, or little more than the quantity now imported into the 

 small kingdom of Belgium. 



Of the total area of Great Britain and Ireland, 4 per cent, are 



under forest. 

 Of the total area of Germany, 26 per cent, are under forest. 

 Of the total area of Belgium, 17 per cent, are under forest. 

 Of the total ai'ea of France, 18 per cent, are under forest. 



Pondering over all these figures, one is almost inclined to say 

 that the requirements of timber are an index to the industrial 

 development of a country. 



Other European countries which import timber are Denmark, 

 Italy, Spain, Holland, Switzerland (rapidly on the increase), 

 Portugal, Bulgaria, Greece, and Servia ; Roumania exports 

 moderate quantites. 



The price per ton of timber next demands attention. It fell 

 from 1870 onwards until about the year 1888 in consequence of 

 the enormous development of the means of transport, especially 

 by water. From 1888 to 1894 prices remained stationary, but 

 since then a slow but steady rise has taken place, amounting to 

 about 18 per cent, during the five years 1894-99. Fluctuations 

 in the price will of course occur, but I have no doubt whatever, 

 that on the whole it will continue to rise, in the same degree as 

 supplies have to be brought from localities farther and farther 

 removed from the world's great highway — the ocean. This holds 

 good especially in the case of Russia, the most important source 

 of supply in Europe. Matters have now come to such a pass in 

 that country that the Government has taken measures to ensure 

 a permanent supply for home consumption by restricting and 

 regulating cuttings. The head of the Prussian forest department 

 informed me a year ago, that a remarkable change has of late 

 taken place in the western provinces of Russia. German timber 

 merchants, who go there to buy up and work out forests, used to 

 send all the timber to Germany ; now they transport already 

 considerable quantities into the interior of Russia, because there 

 they obtain better prices than in Germany. To sum up, it 

 may be said that the quantity of timber required in Europe 

 is rapidly increasing, so that the deficiency in the supply must 

 advance correspondingly, making it more and more problematic, 

 whence the material, especially the coniferous timber, is to come 

 in the future. 



