March 1897.] GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



399 



The estimated decline in the number of ploughs has been 

 explained by the fact that a number of emigrants from Uruguay 

 to the neighbouring republic of Argentina have carried their 

 implements with them. 



In Uruguay, as in Argentina, agriculture is for the most part 

 carried on by foreign settlers and their children. The greater 

 number of the immigrants into the former country are Italians, 

 Spaniards ranking next. The oldest agriculturists in Uruguay 

 are Spaniards, who emigrated from the Canary Islands about 

 30 years ago. 



Forestry in Sweden. 



The area covered by the forests of Sweden, according to the 

 returns of 1894, amounted to 46,663,000 acres, or about 45 per 

 cent, of the total land area of the kingdom. Of this about 

 14,300,000 acres belong to the Crown. These are valued at 

 2,831,000?., and in 1888 yielded a net income of 70,000?. The 

 royal timber preserves are stated in a report on the subject 

 issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, to be 

 managed with scrupulous care. The whole country is divided 

 into forest districts, and these in turn into " revir." Each 

 district is under the supervision of a chief forest inspector, 

 and each " revir " is guarded by a forest ranger and a number 

 of underkeepers. The Crown forests are managed on the 

 principle that the increase alone may be cut, and that [the 

 forest itself — the capital stock, so to speak — shall stand for ever 

 on all Crown lands unsuitable for cultivation. Furthermore, 

 the Government has entered upon an extensive and practical 

 system of planting forests upon desolate and uncultivated 

 areas. These official measures have also had a marked effect 

 upon the owners of private forests, especially upon the larger 

 proprietors, many of whom are now managing their timber 

 lands as permanent sources of income. 



Forestry in Norway. 



The Foreign Markets section of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture has recently published some information regard- 

 ing the condition of forests in Norway. The forests owned by 

 the State and Local Authorities are estimated to cover an area 

 of 2,500,000 acres. Since 1866 the Government has bought 

 about 91,400 acres of woodland in different sections of the 

 country, but the aggregate forest land of Norway is supposed to 

 have diminished in an equal ratio during that period by the 

 destruction of private woods. The . value of public and com- 

 munal forests is estimated at about 800,000^., and they occupy 



