180 AMERICAN LUMBER IN FOREIGN MARKETS. 



In earlier times, when wood had no value as an article of commerce, 

 and when people had not yet begun cutting down the forests reck- 

 lessly, about half of the country was wooded and the forests covered 

 many sections now perfectly treeless. There were even forests of large 

 oaks and other valuable trees which have now almost disappeared. 

 The present decline in the forests is due to an excessive consumption 

 of wood for fuel, and fencing in land, as well as to large fires in many 

 districts. 



The native woods of Norway are chiefly pine or spruce ( Abies excelsa), 

 fir (Pinus silvestris), birch (Betula odorata), and alder (Alnus incana), 

 The two first, of which the great forests exclusively consist, grow abun- 

 dantly everywhere in eastern and northern Norway, even up to the 

 seventieth degree north latitude. Trees between one hundred and 

 one hundred and fifty years old show a considerable size, but those now 

 felled and floated down the rivers to the mills are generally of small 

 dimensions, showing the rapid decline in the forests. 



EXPORTS OF LUMBER. 



The aggregate value of the Norwegian forests was lately esti- 

 mated at about $110,000,000, and they are supposed to give employ- 

 ment to nearly 14,000 persons. In 1892, for which year we have the 

 latest official statistics, the total export of lumber of all kinds amounted 

 to 1,894,586 cubic meters, consisting of planed and sawed lumber, hewn 

 timbers, pit props, and other round timber, staves, and firewood. 



In the above figures are. however, included about 300,000 cubic meters 

 of lumber of Swedish production imported into Norway to be manufac- 

 tured in the mills and reexported to foreign countries. 



The total value of the lumber exports in 1892 was estimated at 

 $7,461,120. 



The principal markets to which Norwegian lumber was exported in 

 the said year were as follows : 



Cubic meters. 



Sweden 40,479 



Denmark 40,372 



Africa 56,809 



Spain 37,487 



Australia 24,659 



Cubic meters. 



Great Britain 1,232,123 



France 136, 096 



Holland 127,264 



Belgium 116,687 



Germany 67, 332 



Though the forests of Norway, having no legal protection, have been 

 carelessly cut down all over the country, it does not seem likely that 

 lumber from the United States will be needed in the near future beyond 

 the small amorint now imported chiefly for the shipyards, and valued 

 in 1891 at $38,056, and in 1892 at $15,196. 



KINDS OF LUMBER USED. 



Pine wood is extensively used for house-building, fences, fuel, and 

 lately to a great extent in the manufacture of pulp for paper mills. A 



