NOTES ON FORESTRY IN FINLAND. 243 



XXVIII. Notes on Forestry in Finland.^ By John F. Annand, 

 Haystoun Estate, Peebles. 



The area of Finland equals the whole of the United Kingdom, 

 with the addition of Holland and Belgium (about 144,220 square 

 miles). Of this vast area over one-half is forest land, and of the 

 remaining half only a small proportion is cultivated plough land, 

 but much consists of lakes and marshes. 



It is a country of great beauty, and although poor from an 

 agricultural point of view, it possesses the enormous advantage of 

 being able to produce in the fioest quality the timber trees most 

 commonly used for architectural and building purposes. 



Geologically the country belongs to the Scandinavian Peninsula, 

 and not to the great plain of Eastern and Northern Europe. It 

 is made up mainly of granite, gneiss, and glacial formations. The 

 surface-soil is largely composed of glacial debris, partly changed 

 by sea action after glaciation — gravel, brash, pebbles, sand, etc., 

 with a substratum of gx-anite or gneiss rocks, and rocky outcrops 

 are frequent. On the other hand, there are also large plains, 

 formed in the post-glacial period, when part of the country was 

 covered by the sea. The soils on these plains consist largely of clay, 

 and are comparatively fertile, and more suitable for the cultivation 

 of field crops than of forest trees. The gravel and rubble over- 

 lying the granite form excellent lodgment for the vertical-rooted 

 pine, which also thrives in the drier oases in the sandy marshes; 

 while the fir (spruce) does best in the cool, mossy, and wet ground. 

 The rainfall is everywhere abundant, or at least sufficient for 

 tree growth, and the forests extend far northward. 



Finland cannot be called a mountainous country, as only a 

 small part in the extreme north belongs to the Scandinavian 

 mountain chain. A good deal of country, however, rises to 

 1000 feet or more above sea-level, and it is at this elevation that 

 we find the densest and most valuable forests; but, in fact, the 

 whole country is studded over with forests of varying size and 

 density. 



Indigenous Timber Trees found in the Forests. 



In point of commercial value the common Scots Pine or Red- 

 wood (Pinus sylvestris) easily holds first place. Grown, as it 



1 Compiled chiefly from Finland, by N. C. Frederiksen, formerly Pro- 

 fessor of Political Economy in the University of Copenhagen. 



