CHAPTER XXI. 
FOREST DEVASTATION. 
NotTWITHSTANDING the great recuperative power mani- 
fested by Norwegian forests, of which mention has been 
made, they are, under the excessive drain made upon 
them in districts favourably situated for the prosecution 
of trade in timber, being greatly impoverished. Of this 
there are indications in more than one of the official 
reports mentioned in connection with the information 
given in a previous chapter relative to the geographical 
distribution of different kinds of trees in Norway. 
Amongst these is a report on the condition of the forests 
in Romsdal county, which lies between the Dovrefjeld 
and the sea, along the coast to the south of Drontheim 
fiord, where the shore trends to the south-west, passing the 
town giving its name to the county. The report is by 
Johannes Schioetz, LL.B. Forest-Assistant, and was 
issued by the Forest Section of the Department of the 
interior in 1871. 
In this it is reported in regard to the amount of forest. 
in the County of Romsdal :— 
‘Large forests cannot be expected in this county owing 
to the natural formation, which is mountainous, and greatly 
intersected by fiords; moreover, the narrow valleys are 
cultivated, and the mountain sides often nearly bare rock. 
The inhabitants are often in want of fuel: turf also being 
rare. Even in the lower districts the mountains rise above 
the forest line, and on the coast the inhabitants and sea- 
breezes have almost completely destroyed all the forests 
which existed there in earlier times. Only on the islands 
in Nordmore are there some important exceptions. 
‘The forest line does not lie high, and depends not so 
much on temperature as on sheltered position. Among 
