Property Conditions. 291 



about 900,000 acres are ecclesiastical benefices and 

 forests belonging to public institutions, and 2.7 million 

 acres in State farms, which are rented. 



Since 1875, the State has pursued a policy of pur- 

 chase, which has added over 500,000 acres (at $7 per 

 acre) to the domain. Lately, this policy has found 

 considerable opposition. In this way, by reforesting, 

 and by settlement of disputed titles the State property 

 in absolute possession of the government has grown 

 by nearly 5 per cent., to 10 million acres. 



In Lapland the entire forest area used to belong to 

 the State, but in order to attract settlers these were 

 given forest property for their own use, from 10 to 

 100 times the area which they had cleared. This 

 forest area the settlers disposed of to wood merchants 

 (lumbermen), until the law of 1873 intervened, re- 

 stricting the settlers to the usufruct alone, the govern- 

 ment taking charge of the cutting of wood for sale 

 and limiting the cut to a diameter of 8 inch at 16 feet 

 from the base. 



This interference with what was supposed to be 

 private rights seems to have been resented, and has 

 led to wasteful practices, in the absence of a sufficient 

 force of forest guards. Nevertheless the law was 

 extended to Westerbotten in 1882. 



In other provinces, Wermland, Gestrikland, etc., 

 the government vested in the owners or ironworks 

 the right to supply themselves with charcoal from 

 State forests. But about the middle of the 19th cen- 

 tury, when, owing to railroad development in other 

 parts, some of the ironworks became unremunera- 

 tive and were abandoned, their owners continued 



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