THE FOREST RESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 27 



The most common of all trees is the pine. It extends beyond the 

 Arctic Circle to 70° north latitude, and forms the most northern 

 forest in existence. It occurs all over the country. Its vertical 

 range is also higher than that of spruce. It ordinarily reaches 

 maturity at 150 years, but in the mountains and in the north at 200 

 years. The spruce does not extend beyond the Arctic Circle, and 

 grows on the western coast only scattering or singly. In the south 

 it can be utilized at an age of from 70 to 80 years; in the rest of the 

 country, between 120 and 150 years. 



In Norway the growth extends much farther north than in any 

 other country. 



ANNUAL CUT, GROWTH, AND CONSUMPTION. 



The annual cut is given as 345,000,000 cubic feet, or 20.4 cubic 

 feet per acre. In the forests south of latitude 65° (15 provinces) the 

 annual growth is estimated at 20.5 cubic feet, per acre — in the south- 

 west, as much as 22.6- cubic feet; west and south of Trondhjem, at 

 17.9 cubic feet; north of Trondhjem, at 11.3 cubic feet. The actual 

 utilization in this region, however, amounts to 21.5 cubic feet. The 

 convenient access to the western coast, with its deep, sheltered fjords, 

 caused the depletion of the forests in that region. It is estimated 

 that during the last one hundred and fifty years 15,000 acres of pri- 

 vate forests have been cleared each year. These figures indicate that 

 the forests of Norway are now being overcut. 



One-fifth of the total cut (69,000,000 cubic feet) is exported, and 

 the rest,. 276,000,000 cubic feet, remains for home consumption. This, 

 with a population of 2,240,000, gives a consumption of 125 cubic feet 

 per capita. 



The peculiarity of the export is that the bulk is in the form of logs 

 and staves and not of sawed lumber. Thus, in 1895 to 1899 the 

 export of sawed lumber formed only 28 per cent of the total. This 

 is in contrast to Sweden, which exports chiefly sawed lumber. 



WOOD PRICES. 



There are no available statistics regarding wood prices in Norway. 

 They can not, however, be very different from those in Sweden. 



The Norwegians realize that at the present cut and export, which 

 in itself amounts to 83 cents per acre, they are cutting not only the 

 annual growth, but the capital itself, and that therefore the forests 

 can not last very long. 



BRITISH INDIA. 



FOREST AREA. 



The total forest area of British East India is not known. The area 

 of state forests under the management of the forest department is 

 nearly 149,000,000 acres. There are extensive areas of private and 

 village forests, but they hardly play an important part in the timber 

 supply of the country. Since the government is owner of all land, 

 except in places where it relinquished its right of ownership to indi- 

 viduals or charitable institutions, the present area of state forests 

 probably includes the greatest part of aU forests. The forest area 

 occupies nearly 24 per cent of the total land area, and represents 0.6 



