Abstract
ON Oct. 14–16 the State College of Forestry, situated in the vicinity of Stockholm, celebrated its centenary. This College, formerly known as the Forestry Institute, was founded on Oct. 15, 1828, by that far-seeing man, Israel Adolf av Strom, who even at that distant date endeavoured to arouse his countrymen to a realisation of the economic importance of the forests of the country. The change in materials used for construction, especially in ships and buildings, witnessed the rise in demand for coniferous timbers, and during the second half of last century Sweden was mainly occupied in capturing and maintaining her hold on the European softwood timber markets. The advice of the few, who understood the danger which the more or less unrestricted lumbering in the forests which had been acquired by the great timber companies and in those numerous areas of varying size (designated farm-forests), owned by tenant farmers, went unheeded. The power of the lumbering interests predominated and the country undoubtedly prospered thereby. Before the end of the century, however, the Government became alarmed at the position and appointed a committee to consider what legal restrictions could be placed on the unchecked exploitation combined with a want of effective management in the greater bulk of the privately owned forests of the country. As a result of the committee's report a General Forest Law was enacted in 1903 and brought into force in 1905, which made it imperative that all areas of forest felled should be replaced by a new young tree crop within a reasonable period. At the same period a revival in the scientific aspects of forestry took place, and in order to endeavour to associate the scientific and commercial aspects of this question the Swedish Forestry Association was founded in 1903.
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The Swedish State College of Forestry Centenary Celebrations, 1928. Nature 122, 788–789 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/122788a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/122788a0