72 THE FOREST LANDS OF FINLAND. 



of the trees had begun to choke the crops of the half- 

 subdued soil, the ground would be abandoned for new 

 fields won from the forest by the same means, and the 

 deserted plain or hillock would soon clothe itself anew 

 with shrubs and trees, to be again subjected to the same 

 destructive process, and again surrendered to the restora- 

 tive powers of vegetable nature. This rude economy 

 would be continued for generations, and, wasteful as it is, 

 it is still largely pursued in Northern Sweden, Swedish 

 Lapland, and sometimes even in France and the United 

 States/ 



In a foot-note he adds : 'In many parts of the North 

 American States the first white settlers found extensive 

 tracts of their woods of a very park-like character, called 

 " oak openings," from the predominence of different species 

 of that tree upon them. These were the semi-artificial 

 pasture-grounds of the Indians, brought into that state, 

 and so kept, by partial clearing, and by the annual burn- 

 ing of the grass. The object of this operation was to 

 attract the deer to the fresh herbage which sprang up after 

 the fire. The oaks bore the annual scorching, at least for 

 a certain time ; but if it had been indefinitely continued, 

 they would very probably have been destroyed at last. 

 The soil would have been much in the same condition, 

 and would have needed nothing but grazing for a long 

 succession of years to make the resemblance perfect. 

 That the annual fires alone produced the peculiar char- 

 acter of the oak openings, is proved by the fact that as 

 soon as the Indians had left the country young trees of 

 many species sprung up and grew luxuriantly upon them.' 

 For a very interesting account of the oak openings, he 

 refers to " Dwight's Travels," vol. iv., pp. 58-63. 



Leaving the prehistoric times of North America, and 

 taking up the present, the case is more clear. 



And in the British Dominion of North America the 

 same operation, there designated clearing, may be seen 

 carried out systematically, ruthlessly, and recklessly, in a 



