242 PAPER IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



FUELS. 



The fuels used consist of coal, wood, charcoal, and peat. The 

 fuel mostly used in the country at large is wood. Charcoal is more 

 or less used in the manufacture of iron. Foundries use coal and 

 coke; other branches of industry also use coal. Coal and coke are 

 used in the households by the urban population. In the northern 

 part of the country wood is cheaper, coal eind coke dearer, than in 

 the southern part. 



The import of coal and coke during the year 1897 amounted to 

 29,387,000 hectoliters (about 83,400,300 bushels). The coal mines 

 in Sweden yield only some 225,800 tons yearly. Peat mosses or 

 bogs are numerous; and peat, in the form of balls or cubes, is to 

 some extent used as fuel. It has been tried to convert peat into a 

 species of charcoal ; but, so far as I have been able to learn, these 

 experiments have not led to any practical results. 



It is hard to make a statement as to the prices of fuel for the 

 production of pulp and paper. This depends much on the loca- 

 tion of the various mills; whether the winters are cold or mild; 

 whether or not there is much snow; freight rates for coal, etc. If 

 the winter starts with frost, so that all the morasses, lakes, and 

 creeks get covered with ice, and the snowfall subsequently is suffi- 

 cient, the lumbermen can bring large quantities of logs to the rafting 

 places. If the winter be mild, very little can be taken out of the 

 woods, especially in the southern and central parts of the country, 

 and the price will increase accordingly. The companies who own 

 forests get their raw material cheaper than those who purchase from 

 the farmers after the trees have been cut down. The present prices 

 at Gothenburg are as follows: Birch wood, 28 kronor ($7.50), and 

 pine or spruce wood, 23 kronor ($6. 16), per 135 cubic feet; stove 

 and steam coal, 1.35 to 1.40 kronor (36 to 38 cents) ; nut coal, 1.30 to 

 1.35 kronor (35 to 36 cents); anthracite nut, 2.70 to 2.80 kronor (72 

 to 75 cents); foundry coke, 1.20 to 1.25 kronor (32 to 34 cents); un- 

 crushed English gas coke, 1.05 to 1. 10 kronor (28 to 29 cents) ; etc. 

 all per hectoliter (2.838 bushels) on railroad cars at Gothenburg. 



These prices will, of course, vary more or less, according to the 

 English coal market in general, and discount may be granted for 

 large orders. It is therefore very hard to tell how much the coal 

 will cost the paper mills when they get it. The coal may be ordered 

 directly from England and sent by sailing vessels to a port near to 

 the mill or may have to be sent many miles by rail from the port of 

 entry. The price of wood, the chief raw material for pulp, rules 

 according to locality. 



