LUMBER TRADE IN E•ROPE. The accompanying table shows (I) the area of forests in Europe. and (•.) the net annual imports or exports of lumber from European countries. From these two tables it is evident that not quite one-third of the area of Europe is forest land, and that the average area per capita is about two acres; that the chief importers of lumber are Great Britain and Germany, and the chief exporters 'Russia and Sweden. In Great _Britain the annual importa tion of timber has increased at the rate of 189,900 tons for the last thirty-five years, and at the rate of 332,000 tons for the closing decade of the century. The price per ton for coniferous tim ber increased from Ll 17s. 7d. per ton in 1895 to £2 3s. 2d. in 1899. Of the timber imported 87 per cent. was coniferous, 3 per cent, oak. 3.6 per cent, mahogany, and other furniture woods, :1.6 per cent. house and door frames, 2.S per cent. miscellaneous.
In Germany, in addition to the 4.600,000 tons of timber imported, there is an annual production of 38,000,000 tons of lumber from the German forests, of which 15.000,000 tons are used for timber and 23.000,000 tons for lire-wood. It is estimated that about 4.000,000 people in Germany are engaged in work connected with forest indus tries. In France the annual production of the native forests is about 18,000,000 tons, of which 14,000.000 tons, mostly coppice woods, are used for fuel.
forests are State owned. Much of the private forest land is overworked, and the Director-Gen eral of the State Forests has publicly stated that the standing crop of timber is some 30 per cent. below the quantity necessary to maintain a per manent annual cut as large as that at present taken out of the forests. As to the Russian for ests, great difference of opinion prevails among experts. 'Monsieur Melard, French Inspector of Forests, in his pamphlet on The Insufficiency of the Production of Timber in the World, published June. 1900, states that Russia's surplus supply is being rapidly exhausted and that by the middle of the century she will have no more than is required for home On the other band, the Director-General of the Russian State Forests affirms that the utilization of the Rus sian State forests is considerably below the annual growth, and Russia will, for a long time to come, be able to keep up its production. This refers only to the State forests, or 314,000,000 acres out of a total of 516,000,000. The private
forests have been badly overworked in recent years. Moreover, much of the area put down as Turning from the importing to the exporting countries of Europe. we find that in Norway about 1,400.000 tons of lumber are annually manufactured into paper•pulp. During the last ten years the amount exported has slightly fallen off, and all authorities are agreed that the Nor wegian forests have been overworked. Only about 12 per cent. of the forest area is under Govern ment control. In Norway and in Sweden the forests are situated in such a high latitude that growth is slow. In Sweden, however, one-fourth of the 4S,000,000 acres of forest land is owned by the State and is under efficient State limn agement. The cutting of trees less than S inches in diameter 5 feet from the ground is forbidden everywhere. The manufacture of paper-pulp and cellulose is rapidly increasing and annually eon sumes about 1.000,000 tons of coniferous timber. In Austria-Hungary about 20 per cent. of the forest land is composed of swampy or other tracts where merchantable timber his not grow.
Considering, last of all. the lumber trade and timber-supply of Asia. Africa, Australia, amid South America, we find that their annual imparts exceed their exports ten times. (See accom panying table.) China and Egypt have little wood. The remaining importing countries have extensive unworked forests. especially Australia. Japan has her forests under systematic manage ment and imports comparatively little. India exports teak and some furniture wood, and can do little more, since she has but 140.000.000 acres of forest land to slimily a home population of about 300.000.000 people. The other regions ex port chiefly mahogany and other furniture woods.
It appears that the supply of hard and other tropical woods is abundant to meet the demands of the lumber trade for years to come, and that when the present sources of supply are exhausted, others may be opened in the unexplored regions of Central and South America and Africa. On the other hand, there seems to be danger that the supply of coniferous woods which eonstitute the bulk of the lumber trade may speedily ex hausted, not only in the United States, but also in the markets of the world. The main sources of an increased supply are Canada, Sweden. and Russia.