Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Forestry - 2. Forest Industries. By E. Arosenius
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
204
iv. forestry.
to buy up the properties themselves, and this movement was now given
a new impetus. The properties thus bought from the peasants generally
consisted of a large tract of forest land and a small area of cultivated
or cultivable land. Of coarse, the purchaser or company had no desire
to practise agriculture, but the arable land was leased, usually to the
former owner, for a very inconsiderable amount, (sometimes it was
given free of rent) on condition that the lessee paid the taxes due on the
farm.
For the care and preservation of the forests, it has undeniably been of
advantage that the saw-mill companies obtained the possession of as
extensive forests as possible; for the forests of which these companies acquired the
ownership have, in general, with a view to their future preservation, been
managed far better than has hitherto usually been the case with private forests
in Sweden, at least with those of the peasants. But, on the other hand, the
purchase of farms entailed a most serious drawback, inasmuch as the agriculture
on the companies’ farms has not been managed as it ought. The state of
dependency on the saw-mill companies into which the farmers easily fell, and the
danger of the number of independent farmers decreasing in consequence of the
purchase of the farms by the companies, gave rise to fresh legislation, first in
1896, by the law respecting the partition of lands, which made it possible to
purchase forest land without at the same time buying the cultivated land to
which the said woods were attached, and, later on, when the law in question
proved insufficient for its purpose, by a law issued in 1906, which forbade
companies and associations, in certain cases, to purchase landed property (See
the article on Agricultural Legislation, Norrland Laws).
When section-felling does not take place, all the trees to be felled are
specially marked or stamped, the mark being struck both on the trunk
and at the root, preferably on a large branch of the root, so that after
felling it will be possible to verify not only that all marked trees have
been felled, but also that no others have been. For the felling of trees
in the forest, the owner of the saw-mill usually makes a contract with
timber-drivers, who are most frequently the tenants of the company or
farmers from the vicinity. If possible, the owner of the timber has
some one in his own service on the spot to see that the timber is
crosscut into proper lengths; in most cases the owner himself takes steps to
have timber measured. Where the working-place is too far from a village
or farm for the workmen to live there, log-cabins have to be built in
the forest.
Usually, timber cutting begins in October or November and continues
all the winter. This season of the year offers several advantages: the
logs can then most easily be brought out of the forest, the number of
workmen available is greater, as farming work is at a standstill, and
the sawn goods from timber felled in winter are better. It is customary
to begin felling operations in that portion of the forest which lies furthest
from the floating-way. In order to facilitate the transport of the timber,
a large number of roads and tracks have to be made in the woods.
The chief roads are made as carefully and as substantial^ and as wide
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
