AttClENT FORESTS OF EUROPE. 23 



minant kind, whilst this character belongs to the fir in 

 Upper Bosnia and Upper Croatia. In these provinces the 

 firs, which commence at a height from. 2,800 to 4,700 feet, 

 cover often lengths of 6, 10, and even 20 leagues. In 

 advancing towards the north of Hungary, the forests 

 approach each other. The evergreens, by their predomin- 

 ance, serve to measure the elevation in latitude. Whilst the 

 oak still prevails in that ad mirable forest of Bakony, which 

 occupies an extent of 12 miles the counties of Verprim and 

 Szalad, they have almost wholly disappeared in Galicia 

 and upon the declivities of the Carpathians. 



'Austria offers, in her northern parts especially, a striking 

 contrast with Hungary. If Styria yet reckons a few fine 

 forests, composed principally of larches and pines, the other 

 provinces begin to feel greatly the want of fuel. In Lower 

 Austria one single forest has remained worthy of attention, 

 it is that of Vienna, whose vast lines of oaks, of ashes, and 

 elms, adorn the Kahlen mountains. 



' In Bohemia the forests, composed of the same kinds as 

 in the other parts of the Austrian empire, are so richly 

 furnished that they have to this day been adequate to the 

 demand for consumption, and subjected to extensive 

 fellings, without any yet sensible diminution. 



'Let us proceed towards the north, and cross the North 

 Sea, in order to penetrate into the Scandinavian Penin- 

 sula. 



' In Sweden we only rarely meet with vast forests ; the 

 woods are numerous, but little productive. Dalecarlia, 

 Warmeland, the district of Orvebro, are the only countries 

 where arborescent vegetation attains sufficient energy to 

 cover with wood a large extent of country. They are 

 almost always the coniferse that constitute the basis of 

 these forests. Sometimes, however, the birch replaces 

 them notably in Ostergothland. Sweden, like America 

 and Siberia, has her fires, that deprive in a few moments a, 



