18 



In the greater part of the country the market for timber is so 

 good that cuttings in the forests can be carried out according to the 

 rules of forestry, either as regeneration or improvement cuttings. 

 Greater difficulties exist in this respect in the State forests of North 

 Finland, where smaller timber from the birch or the pine cannot 

 for the present be sold. The market for inferior timber is increased 

 in all districts with even a scant population by the fact that a compa- 

 ratively great part of the timber from the forests is used up by the 

 farms themselves. Together with the cuttings of timber for sale, 

 these cuttings for home consumption make even an intensive silvicul- 

 ture possible in a very great part of the country. The figures contained 

 in the following calculation from the year 1916 show how great a 

 part of the growing stocks of the country that are ripe for cutting is 

 contained in these cuttings. According to this calculation the whole 

 annual consumption of wood is divided among the various forms of 

 consumption as follows: 



1. Tops left in forests . 3 399 000 cub.metr. 9.1 % 



2. For home use of towns 1 298 000 9 3.5 



3. rural population 15251000 :J0.9 

 Consumption by traffic (without 



4. railways) 500 000 .' ; 1.3 



Consumption by railways 809 000 ;,:> - : .j 2.2 



5. Fuelwood used by industrial work 3 000 000 8. o 

 5. Raw material 9 077 000 24. 4 

 7. Export in unrefined state 3 965 000 10.6 



Total 37 299 000 cub.metr. 100 % 



vnw?<- 



. . to 



A graphic conception of these figures, important already from 

 the standpoint of national economy, is given in Fig. 4, in which, for 

 the sake of greater simplicity, the consumption in traffic has been 

 combined. 



Almost as independent of the species and quality of the timber 

 used for the greater part of the home consumption of which about 

 70 % is taken up by fuelwood is the wood used for traffic and by 

 the various industries as fuel. As raw material for industry and for 

 the timber exported unrefined, only the best timber available in the 

 forests can be used. Thus of the timber cut down annually, about 

 61.5 % is inferior, including wood obtained in improvement cuttings 

 and the remaining 38.5 % of superior quality, for the greater part 

 doubtlessly obtained from regeneration cuttings. 

 



