132 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



bined in the extraction of the values from the ore. In the suc- 

 cessful prosecution of the work required to make a mine productive 

 and remunerative to the owners, the use of timber is an absolute 

 necessity. Its uses are varied. It is required to timVjer the 

 shafts through which the ore is drawn to the surface. Heavy- 

 timbers are also required to take the place of the ore mined, to 

 hold up the roof of the workings, and sustain the sides of the 

 stopes and drifts. The place of every supporting atom taken 

 from the interior of a mine must be filled by some other material 

 which can carry the burden with safety to the lives of the miners 

 employed. This requires timber from the forest. No other 

 material can be substituted for it. The use of iron or steel posts 

 and beams is prohibited by their cost, to say nothing about their 

 inadaptability to the work of underground mining. 



It can be truly said that a veritable forest has been used 

 underground in the mines of the Black Hills during the few years 

 they have been in operation, that no more of the forest has been 

 used in their development than has been absolutely necessary-, is 

 doubtless true. The grade of the ore, the high wages paid, and 

 the satisfactory returns received in most cases on the investment, 

 prove that the mines have been most economically managed, the 

 timbering being one of the heaviest items of expense in their 

 operation. — Seth Bullock, Supervisor of the Black Hills Forest 

 Reserve, at American Forest Congress. 



The report of the Swedish Forest Department, for the year 

 1903, gives the total area of the forests under charge of the 

 department at the close of that year as 16,394,944 acres, or about 

 half the area of England. Of this area, however, about 2,069,475 

 acres were woods in the hands of communes or other authorities 

 who had the right to the revenue of these lands, so that only the 

 proceeds of about 14,325,469 acres were paid in to the Department. 

 From these 14,325,469 acres must also be deducted 862,023 acres, 

 the revenues of which were handed over to the ecclesiastical 

 authorities, leaving only 13,463,446 acres as the area of the State 

 Forests proper. The latter gave a gross return of 8,673,224 kronor 

 for the year 1903. The cost of management, which included the 



