42 FORESTRY OF NORWAY. 
the timber trade, informed me some time ago that, ac- 
cording to a calculation he had made, pine and spruce 
timber actually costs, and is worth much more than the 
price at which it is sold. His theory is, that an acre of 
ground timber is worth the same that the lowest or 
nominal price of wild land—say 1 dol. an acre—would 
amount to, as an invested capital, drawing interest at the 
expiration of the period required for timber to develop. 
‘In the report on Swedish forest culture, accompanying 
my letter No. 166, says he,‘it was shown that on the 
northerly part of Sweden, 200 years, and in poorer soils 
300 years, are required for the pine to grow to good 
timber. In the south part of the country 100 years are 
sufficient.’ He says that 1 dol. invested at 5 per cent. 
interest per annum will double in 20 years. In 40 years 
it will be 4 dols. ; in 60 years, 8 dols.; in 80 years, 16 dols. ; 
in 100 years, 32 dols.; in 120 years, 64 dols.; in 140 
years, 128 dols.; in 160 years, 256 dols.; in 180 years, 
512 dols.; in 200 years, 1024 dols.; and this he makes 
the cost of production as thus calculated. 
He goes on to say:—‘ Assuming that one hundred and 
eighty years are required for the growth of pine timber 
in the north-west part of the United States, these 
figures would seem to show that the pine forests of the 
United States are bringing to hand trees sold and con- 
sumed at a price very much below their actual value’ I 
know that the same thing has occurred in other countries 
besides America, and that in many cases the tree was 
worth to the country, as a tree, a great deal more than the 
price obtained for it as woud! 
In the narrative of what I saw in sailing from Christian- 
sand to Christiania, I have intimated that close upon the 
level of the sea, on the shores of the Skager-Rack, and on 
islands there, and the coast of Bohu’s Bay, and of the 
Christiania Fiord, the conifere give a character to the 
scenery. But, as has been stated, these are not the only 
kind of trees found indigenous in Norway. There has 
