' K A f U R A L H I S T O R Y b& N 0 RW A Y .
Apples and peats of feveral kinds are fotmé all over the county)
and the peafants now begin to apply themfelves toithéculth
dation öf them böth, with more ikill and more diligence ; but the
greateft part of thefe àre fiunmer-dtuit, Which - ripen early:, the
winter-fruit foldoto Comes to perfection* unlefs the fummer proves
botter, and the winter lets in later than ulukl/ In this diocefe,
Sognefiord, Nordfiotd, and Hardangér, are the beft parts for the
growth of fruit-trees; many of the peafants there being able to
dear their yearly affefimeftts from their apples and cherries. Of
* the fotreft-appks, likewife, a cyder is made, but not. to any great
amount. f
S E C T . IV.
ortSe woods But tho’ in the article of fruit-trees, Norway fnuft be acknow- ,©f Norway itf .. j _. * _-r - . _ ; J
geoesat ledged lnferor to molt countries in Europe, yet this deficiency is
moft liberally: çompenïàted in the bleffings of our inexhauftible
forefts, a bleffing of fuch importance, that'in nxoft provinces
immenfe fums arereceived from fordgners ;for mails, beards,
planks, boards, and the like, not to mention the home confump-
fion, for houfes bûilt entirely öf wood, beam upon beam, finps,
bridges, piles, moles, See. likewife for- tfie'infinite number of
foundcries, which require fuch an immenfe quantity of fmàll-çpal
in the fufion of metals, befides the demands for.fuel and ofher-
domeftic ufes; to which muft be added, that in many .places1 the-
, woods are felled only to clear the ground and be burnt, the afhes.
ferving for manure, and fometimes by negligence, ki thç drought
of fummer, the fire ipreading along the mois',’ theufands of trees
are weakened at the roots, and 'afterwards blown, .döwh by the
firft high wind. Nor is this all ; the peafants alfo ufe an
number of young trees for inclofures and fences -for- their hpufos,
gardens, aped, *03-4% tho’ there be no want of ftone to anfiypr that-
purpofe. Thefe, and all other cjrcumftances confidered, the want
of wood in Norway muft have been at leaf! as great as the prefent
abundance of it in moft provinces, „had not nature indued the
foil, even in the moft barren mountains, with a moft fingular fecundity
in the Ipontaneous production of trees ; an evidence of
. which are the many fhoots from the fmalleft fiffures of the .rocks,
which thrive much better than when carefully planted in a good
. 1 B I 9 1 . . '.... foil.
N A T U R A L Ml t S T .O R V oÎW O R ÎF A Y . *37
,ibil. , However, here,- as in other things, the difference in diffe-
rentffrqvinees-is,' very great.. On the weftern-eOaft, forne houfc
and fl%-timber .are exported to Scotland,'^ and Spain, but this
cannot come into account in comparifomwith the exports from
©yammen, Fredeticfhall, Fred'ericftadt, Chriftiania, Skeen;, Arei>-
dal, Chriftianfand, . Ghriftian s-bay, and Drontheim, where the
produce of'the woods fbpplies an immenfe, trade'; ■ the mafts and
latge beams being floated: dfown* the tivers,- - and-therlafter divided
into boards at the fawT-mills; Sometimes piles; of it a r e feesi ih
The »ports like little mountains, flbabeuae would im a g in e it muft r e r
quire a v^ry'long time to^enidye^tliem, Angle embarkation
for England., Holland, France, or Spairij in'a few days
frsbeps them all a ways , yet in a few weeks thefe places are again
covered with mountains of timber. aflfctfeibeft
manufa&urc in Norway* ^n infinite number-* of families -get 9.
ppmfoteahle. maintenance* from fthjray .fopther with the -felling
andf^oafing of the timber. Before'the fear 1 | | | | f e w -m i f e wpre '
pot blown in Norway, ..the frocks were hewe-d flowo, ajndVith
the ax .fplifl into two planks, whereas fpW .thfyiarf fow|.d.intp
%en or eight, fo that moft of foe wood ^ wafted^mfo chips,
which is the.cafe to this day in, fopac places, where fitWimiUs
n# yet introduced, particularly at Sundmoer and i» the province
of Nordland, where, great numbers of boats and biu-fcs.are bulk
of thefe hewn planks ; they are indeed much ftronger, buteon-
fome too many trefes, the gteateft part of which is left .on the
ground to rot. The .tenth of,- ajl Awed timber belongs .to ibis'
rmyefty, and | mak-es a coiflkderable branch of -the revenue, N k-
Cragius in Vita R. Chriftiani III. informs My that this duty was
eftabliflied in the year 164.5 , and further,. that . even J» thofe
times, the laxge exportations to the Dutch, were at that * time apprehended
to be detrimental to the national timber : “ Regi
compertum magnam vim material undiquaque. ex Noryegia in
varias partes Europae exportari, ita- ut fylvse ad vaftitatem.multana
* The Schcft-laft, as it is ca^Kd, aphnatly exported out'drWe^dile^ of Bergen,
- uniefs brought under timely reftridtions, is a maniMt^eftruftion of the forefts as i t ;
corfifts entirely ofyOUng pine-trees, allfo ffiraight aiid pliable, that if left to grew to
malts, they would yield an hundred rix-dollars each; whereas now they are fold for
m ip a r fc j and a half the dozen, land when larger, about tswdveiel^in height, 4he
dozen ufually goes at five marks, which, exckifiye of the wood, of which & much
paihsis taken to cleaTthe'country, does notfomuch as pay for thelabdUr; -
redi