36 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN. 



150 years old ; 13|- inches, 200 years old. So according to 

 these proportions it appears that in this latitude a pine 

 grows one inch in diameter in every ten years during the 

 first century ; but in the second century only one inch in 

 every twenty- two years. At Gene, under 60 4' north 

 lat., a pine of 14 inches diameter is about 100 years 

 old; ]8-- inches, 150; 21f inches, 200. It will be seen 

 how much quicker the tree grows in a more southerly 

 latitude. 



In 67 north lat., on sandy ground, it takes 300 years 

 to get a good block of fir of sixteen inches diameter; 

 but it has then long since passed its best point of 

 growth. 



In the middle of Sweden, latitude 59 20', it is reckoned 

 a fair growth if ten rings in the timber give one inch 

 breadth of wood on each side of the pith, (i. e., two inches 

 for the diameter or thickness of the tree) and one foot in 

 height. A tree of 100 years old of such a growth will 

 be twenty inches in diameter at the root, and 100 feet 

 high to the top. At twenty feet from the ground the 

 stem will be fifteen to sixteen inches in diameter, and, 

 consequently, fit for a saw block. At thirty feet from 

 the ground the stem will be twelve to fourteen inches 

 in diameter. 



f ' It was easy enough," as Bishop Agardth observes, " in 

 the olden time., to distinguish in the northern forests the 

 difference between the trees fit for masts, for saw blocks, 

 and for building purposes. Masts are now no longer 

 found in any forests which are of service to man. Those 

 forests in which saw blocks are to be found, are gradually 

 reduced to smaller and smaller dimensions, and by degrees 

 we shall have no timber left, except just for building pur- 

 poses. At length we shall only find trees for charcoal and 

 firewood, and in the end we shall come only to wood 

 rubbish." 



The following table of the thickness and height of trees 

 in Wermland, 59 46' north latitude, may be taken as 

 pretty correct : 



