202 



FORESTRY IN SWITZERLAND. 



within the federal forest district the assent of the proper government officials 

 is required. As a condition to the granting of the permission, the parties must 

 either replant the clearing with shoots or pay a sum sufficient to have it done. 

 There are no sand-dunes in Switzerland, and the waste places are few, being 

 either small swamps or the mountain-sides. Many of the latter, under federal 

 subsidy, by the construction of stone and other guards, are being brought 

 into forest cultivation, mainly to form a nattiral and permanent shelter from 

 avalanches and rock slides, so common and destructive in some localities. 



LUMBER TRADE. 



In regard to the Swiss lumber trade no domestic statistics can be found. 

 The exports and imports for 1885, the last reports made, show: > 



It will be observed that the imports exceed by a small amount the exports, 

 the result of the large importation of firewood, which constitutes almost the 

 exclusive fuel of Switzerland, which has no coal mines, and the wood is imported 

 at a less cost than coal. The exports of valuable lumber for building and 

 manufacture show a large balance in favor of Switzerland. 



The export lumber trade is mostly with France and Italy; the importation, 

 from Germany and Austria. 



Import duty : Brushwood, bark, and tanning bark, 2 centimes per metric 

 centner; building wood, axe-hewed, willow and vine-pr«ps, 5 centimes per 

 metric centner; sawed lumber and shingles, 40 centimes per metric centner; 

 dressed building lumber, 60 centimes per metric centner. 



Export duty : Wood, rough or hewed, and charcoal are free. 



DEALERS IN SEED, ETC. 



Seeds are procured and sold by private firms, of which the following lead- 

 ing ones may be named: Titus, Durr& Co., Zurich; Chr. Heinze, Langnan,, 

 Berne; John Berrge, Obergeehen, Argovie. 



Shoots are distributed generally by the cantons, the larger communes, and 

 the various forest administrations, located as follows : 



The forest administration for the Canton of Berne, at Berne. 



The city forest office at Winterthur, Canton of Zurich. 



The city forest administration at Zofingen, Canton of Argovie. 



The Canton of Berne at present has no uniform forest law, but is engaged 

 in digesting and codifying one. 



