REQUIREMENTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM 45 



of woodland held by the saw-mill companies amounts to 

 is not known, but it is probably more than 8,000,000 

 acres, and this of the best and the most favourably situated 

 woods ; so that, adding this area to that under the segis 

 of the Swedish Forest Department, fully 60 per cent, of 

 the woodlands are in safe hands, that are bound to manage 

 them properly in future. During the last fifteen years 

 the Swedish Forest Department has consistently pursued 

 the policy of adding to its forest property, more especially 

 of denuded or partially denuded areas that can be worked 

 in connection with its other forests, and it is understood 

 this policy is to be continued. 



' Various measures have also been passed by the Swedish 

 Riksdag with the object of conserving the forests during 

 the last decade, the most important of which is the 

 Replanting Law, which came into operation about four 

 years ago. By this enactment local committees are ap- 

 pointed for each county, whose duty it is to watch over 

 the felling of the forests, and under the supervision of 

 the forest officer appointed for that purpose, to ensure that 

 replanting takes place. Both the owner of the ground 

 and the lessee (if the wood has been leased) are held 

 jointly liable in case the land is handled in such a manner 

 as to hinder or delay reproduction. 



' The so-called Norrbotten Law, which prohibits the 

 cutting down of any Scots pine or spruce tree in the 

 counties of Norrbotten and Westerbotten for export that 

 is under 9 inches in diameter 16 English feet from the 

 root, has been operative for many years, while this enact- 

 ment has been further strengthened by the formation of 

 protective zones in the mountainous districts between 

 Sweden and Norway, within which all cutting of timber 

 is prohibited except with the sanction of the forest officer 

 appointed to supervise the carrying out of this Act. In 

 these storm-swept districts, where the climate is very 



