Forest Conditions. 237 
The rigorous climate makes a large consumption of 
fuelwood necessary and, since houses are also mostly 
built of wood, the home consumption is over 32 cubic 
feet per capita. Over 10 million cubic feet of pine are 
consumed in making tar, and a like amount for paper 
pulp. 
The country generally is a tableland with occasional 
low hills. The forest consists principally of spruce 
(10 per cent. of the whole, mainly in the southeast) 
and pine, the latter a variety of the Scotch Pine (or 
species ?), called Riga Pine which excels in straightness 
of bole and thrifty growth. Aspen, alder and birch, 
especially the latter, are considered undesirable weeds, 
and fire is used to get rid of them. Basswood, maple, 
elm, ash and some oak occur, and larch (Larix Sibirica) 
was introduced some 150 years ago. 
Long, severe winters and hot, dry summers produce 
slow growth, the pine in the north requiring 200 to 250 
years, in the middle sections 140 to 160 years to grow 
to merchantable size. 
Fires, used in clearing, have from time to time run 
over large areas and have nearly killed out the spruce 
except in the lowlands, but the pine being more resistant 
has increased its area and in spite of the deterioration 
of the soil by fire reproduces well. 
Originally the forest was communal property, but 
Gustav Vasa (1524) declared all forest and water not 
specially occupied to belong to “God, King and the 
Swedish Crown,” although he allowed the usufruct to 
the people free of charge or nearly so. These rights 
of user are still the bane of the forest administration. 
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