may be scattered over a wide area and separated by consider- 

 able distances or they may be grouped together, as circum- 

 stances dictate. The right to cut the trees thus selected for 

 cutting is then disposed of at public auction to the highest 

 bidder. There is seldom any lack of competition, as most of 

 the pulp and lumber companies are only too anxious to con- 

 serve their own resources by buying when they can buy to 

 advantage. 



An outstanding feature of the Swedish timber regulations I 

 is that immediate profit from the felled timber is never made 

 the chief consideration. Everything is subordinated to the \ 

 purpose of ensuring a permanent yield of wood. Selection \ 

 of trees for cutting is made on the basis of improving the re- \ 

 maining forest. The "diameter limit" regulation, as observed 

 by some of the Canadian provinces, under which all trees 

 cut are required not to fall below a certain prescribed minimum 

 trunk measurement, appears to have no place in Swedish 

 forestry. Weak and immature trees are the first to be taken out 

 in order to give the sturdier ones a better chance for develop- 

 ment. If there is any hard and fast rule employed it would 

 appear to be that no tree capable of increased development 

 is allowed to be cut until it has reached its maximum growth 

 unless for the purpose, as already stated, of giving a more 

 promising tree a better chance. There is no such thing as 

 indiscriminate cutting. All waste is eliminated. Trees are 

 cut to within three or four inches of the ground. High stumps 

 are unknown. Slash and other debris is seldom left on the floor 

 of the forest to incite forest fires or serve as a breeding place 

 for wood-destroying insect pests. Swedish lumbermen try 

 to utilize every waste product from their lumbering operations. 

 Top logs, even down to one or two inches in top diameter, are 

 bundled and strapped with steel wire and floated to the nearest 

 charcoal plant to be converted into charcoal. What waste 

 cannot be utilized is destroyed. 



Swedish forests, as a rule, are comprised of about 80 per 

 cent, conifers and 20 per cent, broad-leaf species. Trees 

 mature under the most favourable conditions in from 75 to 

 80 years. In some instances, however, they require two or 

 three times as long. Reforestation, which is carried on on 

 an ever-increasing scale, will be dealt with later. 



