vitally interested in their work and going 
at it in a way that insures good team play. 
One of the interesting features of the ad- 
ministration of the Swedish state forests is 
the provision that is made to insure a steady 
supply of labor. On the scattered pieces of 
agricultural land within the boundaries of the 
forests small holdings are leased to the 
laborers, for short terms but subject to re- 
newal. On these little farms the government 
erects houses and barns, of standard design 
and construction, which provides the laborers 
with homes that are not only comfortable but 
attractive. The tenant pays rental in cash 
and in a specified number of days’ labor. The 
homesteads are often referred to as “one- or 
two-horse homesteads,” depending on the num- 
ber of horses the tenant keeps—the size of 
the stable corresponds. This feature is one 
that might well be considered as being ap- 
ment Forest Experiment Station and (2) those 
laid out by the supervisors themselves, or by 
the men in charge of the several ranger schools 
that are located on certain of the crown forests. 
The director and chief of the Forest Experiment 
Station is Professor Dr. Gunnar Schotte, a 
very active and energetic man, under whose 
direction much valuable scientific investiga- 
tion is going on. The experiment station has 
the right to locate its sample plots wkere it 
likes on crown forests, and thereafter to have 
the exclusive control of these areas. In this 
way experiments in various methods of thin- 
ning can be carried out over a long period, 
sometimes the full rotation, without danger of 
interruption. The areas taken are so small 
relatively and the data secured so interesting 
to the supervisors that there is apparently no 
objection raised from an administrative 
standpoint over the segregation of the sample 
VIEW IN 
SWEDISH 
SWAMP, 
JAGMASTARE 
AXEL SCHARD 
DISTANT 
CENTER 
plicable to certain large, privately owned 
forests in America. 
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION 
OF FOREST PROBLEMS 
The second point, after administration, that 
impresses the visitor to the Swedish govern- 
ment forests is that he cannot go-far in the 
woods before coming upon a permanent sample 
plot, established for the study of rate of growth 
or for the securing of precise data of other 
sorts. These areas are of varying sizes and 
shapes, often from 4 to % hectare (.6 to 
1.25 acre), with the corners indicated by posts 
and every tree bearing a number stenciled on 
the bark in white paint. Exact measurements of 
diameter and height are taken at stated inter- 
vals, usually every five years; the point for 
calipering also being indicated on the tree by a 
cross, in white paint, at 1.3 meter above the 
ground. This is three inches lower than 
“d.b.h.,” diameter-breast high, in the United 
States. 
The permanent sample plots are of two 
classes, (1) those established by the Govern- 
plots. The resuits of the experiments, shown 
both in tabular form and graphically, appear 
in the reports of the experiment station. 
Other lines of research work conducted by 
the Forest Experiment Station are: (1) The de- 
termination of the strains or “races” of the 
native trees best adapted to given localities, it 
having been found that trees resulting from 
seed gathered in certain localities produce 
taller and better formed trees than that se- 
cured in certain other places. (2) The study of 
problems having to do with the drainage of 
swampy areas, so that forests May be grown 
thereon. This is a highly important matter in 
Sweden and is receiving much attention. The 
cost of drainage is high, but the results in the 
forest stands secured justify the outlay, when 
figured over a long period of years, as is pos- 
sible in government work. (3) Investigation 
and research in forest entomology and forest 
pathology. Trouble from both these sources 
is closely guarded against. Diseased trees, for 
example, are removed very shortly after they 
are found to be infected, while equally prompt 
(22) 
