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 df 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 possiblelto
purchase forest land without at the same time buying the cultivated land j; 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 vic inity.: I f 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 substantially and as wide
as possible, great care also being taken to keep them in good condition;
sometimes they are iced over artificially, by pouring water over them.
From these chief roads side-tracks branch off to the interior parts of the
sections appointed for felling. In Northern Sweden, with its snowy winters,
it is chiefly winter-roads or sledge-roads that are made.
In these tithes of competition, the old prodigal method of felling the tree a
couple of feet above the ground, has been almost entirely abandoned, and now
the tree 4s sawn off as near the surface of the ground as possible, and the snow,
which may be sometimes one yard deep, must be shovelled away, so as to give
the ■ workmen sufficient room to run the saw. The latter tool has supplanted
the axe in the felling operations, as more timber is wasted in chips by hewing.
After?: the tree has been felled, it .is “adapted” or cross-cut into one or more
logs of suitable length. Logs for sawing are taken of a top-diameter of as
little as five inches for white wood, or six inches for red wood, at a length of
15,{feet. The farther, from the coast, the larger the logs must be, in order to
pay for their transport. Building-timber ought to be at least seven inches in
diameter at the top, and the lengths are generally from 28 to 32 feet. Balks
ought to be of at least 8 inches’ diameter in the middle when dressed, but the
length may vary. Smaller squared logs are called rafters. Whatever cannot be
converted into larger or more valuable timber is cut up into fuel-wood, where
there is a market for it.
The most usual means for transporting logs is by using a sledge. Formerly,
the timber was carried on two sledges in tandem, of very simple construction,
consisting of only a pair of runners, an intermediate frame, and a cross-piece
joining the uppermost or front points of the runners. Nowadays, the rear sledge
is usually made longer in order to avoid tearing up ,th e road. In this manner
tremendous loads, 10 to 12 logs each 18 feet long, can be drawn on the smooth
winter-roads by one horse. In upper Norrland reindeer are sometimes used for
hauling out timber. In such places in the forests, luckily very rare, where
draught-animals cannot be used, the only means of removing the logs is by hand,
and the logs are then' slid, top-end first, down steep slopes, if the snow is sufficiently
deep. Wheeled vehicles are used in transporting timber only on good
roads, and, of course, only when the ground is bare of snow.
Floating.
Some saw-mills are fortunate enough to have forests so near at hand
that some of the timber can be carted direct to the mill. A considerable
quantity of timber is also transported by rail. Floating is, however, the
most important means of conveying timber, and it is considered, besides,
to have certain advantages. Coarse red wood timber which has lain in
water a few months is less liable to warp, or get “ shaken”, than if sawn
immediately after felling. The floated timber, freed from sap and resin,
is, too, eaiser to work and has a more even colour, while that which is
not floated is supposed to be more durable. Opinions differ somewhat
in this respect in different places; England will take only floated timber,
as it has been freed from sap and resin; other countries, like Germany and
Denmark and the south of Sweden, are just as willing to take unfloated
timber. — Besides the timber intended for the saw-mills, quite a con