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private forests.
175
mentioned, even though it may be carried out in connection with proper
care of the forest-land and the remaining trees. If the two latter
conditions do not exist, such excessive cutting of timber can be described as
nothing short of forest devastation.
Private Forests.
As was shown above, by far the greater part of the forests of Sweden,
together with irreclaimable land amounting to about 22 million hectares,
or about half the area of Sweden, belongs to private owners, and private
forest-economy thereby becomes a question of the very greatest importance
for the country. The way in which the private forests have been managed
has not generally conduced to the preservation of the timber. For the
Läns of Norrbotten and Västerbotten, and the upper parts of Dalarne
(the parish of Särna), as well as for the island of Gottland, the
proprietory rights of the owners of private forests have been limited by special
laws, in consequence of which the supply of timber has been well
preserved in the Lappland districts and in the parish of Särna, though less
so in the Län of Västerbotten and in Gottland.
A survey of the condition of the private forests in the other parts of
Sweden gives the following result.
With respect to the condition of the forests south of the Läns of Norrbotten
and Västerbotten the three following regions can be distinguished:
a) Central and Southern Norrland and Dalarne, as regards the timber
export of Sweden, are of greater importance than the entire remaining part of
the country. Excessive felling of large-sized timber is considered to be general,
and the same may be said of timber of smaller dimensions in districts
possessing good communications, especially in the littoral districts. A considerable
number of large forest owners, however, take great care of the woods.
b) The Bergslags district embraces a belt of country from, and inclusive of,
Värmland to, and inclusive of, Stockholm Län, or that part of the country
where mining operations are chiefly carried on. The woods show great powers
of recuperation but are, as a rule, thinned to excess, an evil that has increased
since the saw-mill industry became more general. The re-growth of the forests
after felling for charcoal-burning purposes is good, and the woods belonging
to the iron-works are, as a rule, carefully looked after.
c) The forests of the country south of the belt above mentioned no longer
support any great industries. Among the timber-exports, which, in
proportion to the supplies of timber, is very considerable, there is a relatively large
percentage of small-sized wood, such as pit-props, spars etc. The greater
number of the woods belonging to farms, especially the smaller ones, often
resemble badly cared-for pasture-land, where birch, aspen, alder, and other
deciduous trees form a large proportion of the thin woods. In order to increase
the pasture-land, the woods are usually kept thin, the same need for grazing
land also helping to counteract any inclination to afforest naked land. Large
forest owners, however, in many places take exemplary care of their forests.
Although the economy of the private forests of the country must be
considered as having improved since the coming into force of the forests-
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