25 for admission to the High School of Forestry. This preparatory course is
under the direction of a chief assistant, aided by a number of other assistants,
in addition to which, short courses of practical instruction are given to the pupils
taking part in the course, by the teachers in pure forestry who are engaged at
the High School.
The instruction given at the High School is both theoretical and practical.
The theoretical instruction is imparted in the form of lectures illustrated
by exercises in the class-room, given every year during an autumn term (16/lo
— 20/ i 2) and a spring term C1/ 2—;1/5). In addition to this, a certain time is
devoted to oral examinations. The practical instruction goes on during the period
10/6—-S0/8, in forests specially devoted to the purpose in various parts of the
country; during this time, the pupils have to manage the work and make the
calculations connected with the different branches of the management of forests.
Besides this, journeys are made under, the direction of the teachers to various
parts of the country, for the study of forest management, the transport of
timber from the woods, floating, and timber manufacturing works. A full course
of study at the High School embraces 3 autumn terms, 2 spring terms, and : 2
summer terms. Twenty-five pupils are admitted to the High School each year.
The High School is under the superintendence of a Board of Governors
numbering 5 persons, the President of the Crown Lands Board being ex.
officio one of these members. The teaching staff consists of 4 professors
in the subjects of Forest Management, Forest Mathematics, Forest Technology,
and Forest Botany, each with an institute and collections, in addition to whom
there are teachers in the following subjects: Forest Zoology, thé Science îof
Soils, Forest Policy, General Legislation, the Forest- and Game Laws, Bookkeeping,
Technical Chemistry and Agricultural Economy. One of the Professors acts
as the Bector of the High School, and is assigned the task of laying its business
before the Governors.
Pupils that have passed in all the subjects at the final examination at the
end of their course at the High School can be appointed as Extra Foresters In
the service of the State.
The Lower Course given in connection with the work of the High School
will embrace a training period of about IV 2 years. The requirements for admission
to this course are, to have passed the “Bealskolexamen” (Modern School)
and to have had at least 22 months’ practical work in Forestry. 12 pupils are
admitted to this Course each year.
The State Schools of Forestry are 7 in number, and are situated in various
parts of the country. Each is under the superintendence of a Director, who is
also the head-master of the school, and has an assistant. Each school has
been assigned a large tract of forest-land which is managed by the Director.
The period of training lasts from 1/ ii to i5/io of the following year.
The instruction is directed mainly to giving the pupils practical skill in the
more important branches of forestry and exercise in the direction of such work,
but it also embraces theoretical studies in the fundamental principles of Forest
Economy. The number of pupils at each school is, as a rule, 20, who enjoy
instruction gratis, and are provided with rooms free of cost, but have to pay
for their board themselves. Pupils without means can be awarded bursaries,
each amounting to 250 kronor. For entrance to the schools of forestry the
candidate must: have a knowledge of the subjects taught at the elementary
schools, enjoy good health, and be not less than 20 and not more than 30
years of age.
In addition to the above-mentioned State institutions for imparting instruction
in forestry, instruction in forest economy is given at the Agricultural
Schools and the Agricultural High Schools too; at special schools of forestry
and charcoal-burning, established on private initiative, and also at People’s High
Schools, and Farmers’ Schools. A most extensive work of disseminating instruction
and information concerning the rearing and care of timber and forests
is also carried on by the Forest Conservation Boards of the various Ians, by
means of the so-called courses in Forest Culture, intended for the peasantry, by
means of lectures, and, finally, by setting apart certain days on which the
children in the elementary schools go out to plant trees.
2. FOREST INDUSTRIES.
Even when the population of Sweden first began to enter into more
lively commercial relations with other nations, it 'would appear that
forest products formed a considerable part of Swedish exports, although
at first the demand mostly comprised other forest products than those
which are now the most important.
From various documents dating from the Middle Ages we find that furs and hides
of different forest animals (elk or moose, deer, etc.) were in great demand as
articles of commerce and were bought in the Swedish ports by foreign traders.
The Hanseatic cities, which, at the close of the Middle Ages, controlled the
commerce and navigation of Northern Europe, took from Sweden their requisite
supplies of pitch, tar, masts, and spars, as well as, to a certain extent, of firewood,
deals, and boards. The boards exported went by the name of hewn boards,
i. e., not sawn, but hewn by the axe direct from the log.
In early modern times the Dutch inherited the commercial supremacy of
the?1 Hanseatic cities in the North and also became the principal purchasers
of Swedish timber. As they were in need of much timber for their great
commercial and naval dleets as well as for dams, piles for building purposes, etc.,
which could not be obtained in their country, so deficient in forests, the Swedish
export of timber to Holland .became very extensive for those times. The timber
shipped consisted principally of m'asts, spars and balks, hewn by hand, and logs,
which were afterwards sawn in the numerous wind saw-mills in Holland. —
During the eighteenth century, the position -as the head of the world’s commerce
and shipping . passed from Holland to England, which country, for nearly the
same reasons as Holland, found it necessary to import timber.
In order to give an idea of the extent of the Swedish timber-trade at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, it may be mentioned that, in the year 1809,
Sweden exported about 220 000 dozen boards and deals, about two-thirds of
which went to England. The whole timber export was then estimated at a value
of 5 488 000 kronor, which equalled one-seventh of the total export of the
kingdom at that time.
During the wars against Napoleon, the development of the timber trade was
arrested. For in 1809 England imposed — chiefly as a retaliatory measure
against Napoleon’s system of isolation — a very considerable increase of the
former import-duties on timber from the Continent, which increase was further
raised the following year and rose once more in 1813, so that the import-duty
Per load ( I 1« cubic meters) thus finally amounted to £ . 3. 5 sh. These customs-
duties had all the greater effect on the European exports to England, as, at
the same time, only an inconsiderable duty was paid on the timber imported
from British North America. Consequently, commerce between Sweden and