3G THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



forest, representing more than one-half of the whole 

 Swedish forest area, while 51 per cent, is in the hands 

 of the State. Not only the Crown j)arks, but many of the 

 forests owned by large saw-mill companies, landowners, 

 etc., are carefully managed and fully stocked, while even 

 reckless cutting has failed to permanently injure many of 

 the private forests, so successful is natural regeneration 

 under the existing soil and climatic conditions. It was 

 estimated by a committee appointed to investigate the 

 forest resources of the country a few years back, that the 

 consumption of wood amounted annually to 29,000,000 

 cubic metres, or about 20,000,000 tons of round timber. 

 This was made up as follows : — 



Cubic Metres. 



Domestic purposes, . . . 15,853,000 



Export, 6,130,000 



Pulp wood, 1,419,000 



Mining timber, .... 5,687,000 



29,089,000 



The estimated annual increment on the entire forest 

 area was put at 84,500,000 cubic metres. Since that 

 estimate was made, the export and pulp wood consump- 

 tion has risen by about 5,000,000 cubic metres. 



Dr. Metzger, in referring to the estimated annual incre- 

 ment, states: 'According to my opinion and observations, 

 I am inclined to agree with those Swedish foresters who 

 put the valuation at a higher figure. Basing the esti- 

 mates on the data supplied, it appears that the yearly 

 consumption does not exceed 1'6 cubic metres per 

 hectare. This must, with proper management, be easily 

 produced by the forest area, even when the low produc- 

 tivity of the most northerly part of the country is con- 

 sidered. The greater part of the Swedish forests lie in 



