21 



two elected forest owners, with the governor as president. These com- 

 mittees decide which forests are "protective" and which are not; ap- 

 prove working plans; direct what clearings may be made, and exer- 

 cise police powers in cooperation with the local forest administration. 

 Private forest owners may secure expert advice on forestry without 

 charge. Seedlings are distributed, and working plans for protective 

 forests are made, free of cost. The Imperial Loan Bank advances 

 money on forests for which the government has made working plans 

 insuring conservative management. In this way 7,000,000 acres were 

 mortgaged in 1900. 



FINLAND. 



Finland has 50,000,000 acres, or 63 per cent of the whole land area, 

 in forest. It exports each year 170,000,000 cubic feet of wood, valued 

 at $20,000,000, principally to England, France, Germany, and Hol- 

 land. 



Most of the forest— that is, between 35,000,000 and 45,000,000 acres- 

 is State property. Since 1869 the State forests have been conserva- 

 tively lumbered, but until the private forests are depleted it will not 

 pay to make the management as thoroughgoing as it ought to be. 

 Little can now be done beyond restricting wasteful cutting and fires. 

 However, since no trees are cut which are less than 10 inches in 

 diameter 25 feet from the ground, there will be a good stock of tim- 

 ber to count on when the inevitable rise of wood prices makes inten- 

 sive management pay as it already pays where the markets for wood 

 are better than the average. Working plans for the forests are con- 

 stantly being made by a corps of forest surveyors. 



Though mainly in small parcels, the private forests contribute 

 four-fifths of the timber exported, in order to furnish which they are 

 destructively overcut. Thus far all attempts to regulate their use 

 have been vain, and they are certain soon to be exhausted. 



Clearing along waters adapted for fishing, as well as clearing more 

 than 12 acres anywhere without providing for new growth, have been 

 forbidden since 1886. 



INDIA. 



The forests of India in the territory under British control cover 

 nearly 180,000,000 acres, or 24 per cent of British territory. Of this a 

 little over 149,000,000 acres are State lands, principally under forest. 

 The rest of India, comprising 600,000 square miles, is made up of 

 native states under British suzerainty, some of which have as much 

 as 24 per cent under forest. Not all of the British State forests will 

 remain under State control, since those now under management 

 include three classes of forest, namely, reserved, protected, and 

 unclassed, of which only the reserved forests are permanent. The 



[Cir. 140] 



