Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Forestry - 2. Forest Industries. By E. Arosenius
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timber cutting.
203
the whole term of contract; the landowner sometimes also stipulated
for the payment of a certain annual lease-rent in cash or cereals. As
a rule, the saw-mills procured their cutting-rights at very cheap rates.
The forests, at that time, had so little value that the peasants burned
off vast tracts of timber land simply to obtain pasturage.
Log Transport in the Forest.
These forest-purchases formed the foundations of some of the fortunes
made by the saw-mill owners; but they did not prove advantageous as
regards the preservation of the forests, having, on the contrary, brought
with them such serious disadvantages that they have called for the special
consideration of the legislators. A speculator who by contract has acquired
the right to fell timber in the forest lands of another person for a
certain number of years has, of course, no interest in caring for the
preservation of the forest, his sole aim being to derive the greatest possible profit
from the forest during the term of the contract; and, in the cases where
there was no stipulation made as to minimum dimensions, the immature
timber was generally taken as well. But, even where the cutting-right
was not unrestricted, many trees were felled which ought to have been left
standing as seed trees or for other reasons, while other trees which, from
a sylvicultural standpoint, it would have been suitable to cut down were
left standing. By a law of 1889, the longest term for wood-cutting
leases was restricted to 20 years. (Since the beginning of 1905 this term
is limited to 5 years.) The object of this law, was, however, only
imperfectly realized. Several saw-mill companies, in order to secure forests
sufficient for all future wants, had previously to this already begun
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