FORESTRY IN HUNGARY. 21 



It is said tliat the proportion of timber and firewood obtained 

 from the three principal groups of species is as follows, viz. ; 



Timber. Firewood and Charcoal. 

 Oak, ...... 2.5-40 per cent. 60-75 per cent. 



Beech and other broad-leaved species, 3-15 ,, 85-97 ,, 



Conifers, 70-85 „ 15-30 



III the State forests the mean area clean-felled over during the 

 three years from 1882 to 1884 was 22,981 acres, and the produce 

 was — 



Cubic feet. 



Timber, 32,664,860 



Firewood and charcoal, 53,163,882 



Total, 85,828,742 



with 3200 tons of bark. 



The mean imports and exports of forest produce during the three 

 years from 1882 to 1884 were as follows, viz. : 



Tons. Value. 



Imports 139,666 £450,647 



Exports, 618,182 2,165,864 



Exports exceeded imports by . 478,516 £1,715,217 



The figures do not include considerable imports of wood from 

 the Austrian provinces of Galicia, Carniola, and Styria ; so that the 

 excess of exports over imports is not really so great as it would 

 appear to be from the above statement — 96 per cent, of the re- 

 corded imports and 42 per cent, of the recorded exports are trans- 

 actions with Austria. Sawn deal and oak timber is exported to 

 Germany, France, Holland, and Belgium, and large quantities of 

 cask staves have been sent to France ; but as the customs-duty in 

 Germany has been raised during the last few years, the exports to 

 that country have considerably diminished. The present rate of 

 export, which, however, forms a very small proportion of the 

 timber annually imported by the other European States, cannot be 

 maintained much longer, and it is indeed already beginning to fall 

 ofi". The supply of cask staves sent to France from Slavonia will 

 certainly be greatly diminished within the next ten or fifteen years. 

 It is a noteworthy fact that the principal timber exporting countries 

 of Europe, Russia and Sweden, are, like Hungary, commencing to 

 reduce the quantity annually sold beyond their frontiers. 



The purchase and sale of wood forms an important branch of 



