390 



Forestry in Norway. 



[AUG., 



Afforestation, — The activity of the State as well as of 

 private individuals as regards this question is largely due to 

 the efforts of two societies — the Royal Society for the Welfare 

 of Norway and the Norwegian Forestry Society. The latter 

 receives an annual grant from the State and has branches 

 all over the kingdom. 



Although the actual work of afforestation has received most 

 attention in the coast-line provinces, yet preparatory schemes 

 of drainage and land-improvement are common in the interior, 

 and planting has been widely carried on over the high-lying 

 Crown lands of Eastern Norway. In connection with this 

 it is interesting to note that the writer visited a large area on 

 the Swedish frontier, covered with young Pinus montana 

 at a height of 2,000 feet above sea-level. At 1,800 feet, seed 

 of P. sylvestris sown the year before was germinating well, 

 while at from 1,500 to 1,800 feet were many plantations of 

 young pine and larch, all doing splendidly.* 



At some places on the coast large sums have been spent 

 in dealing with shifting sands. The process usually adopted 

 is the same as that practised on the northern shores of Jylland 

 in Denmark. Irregularities in the surface are first filled in ; 

 the ground is then covered with moss, heather, or any kind 

 of loose material, pegged down in places ; seed of Elymus or 

 Arundo arenaria is sown, and, lastly, broad strips are planted 

 with Pinus maritima. 



The season for planting is restricted by the snowfall to 

 early summer or early autumn. Sowing is found to be more 

 successful in the interior than on the coastline, where the 

 young seedlings are bared of snow while the weather is still 

 cold. 



The cost of planting may be reckoned at 22s. per acre, and 

 the method used is generally either by holing with German 

 planting irons or by planting in small mounds of good soil 

 or turves distributed over the ground. 



The task of determining the best varieties of trees for plant- 

 ing has been taken up by many private forest owners, as well 



* Royal Commission Report : Mr. Forbes fixes the maximum planting altitude 

 at 1,200 feet on the Pennine Chain ; Sir H. Maxwell, at i,ooo feet in Scotland. 



Quarterly Review, Jan., 191 1 : Mr. J. C. Medd writes — "In England over 

 three million of the twelve million acres are 1,500 feet above sea level, and are 

 herefore unsuitable for planting." 



