"SARTAGE" IN FINLAND, 113 



subject amongst others. They issued several successive 

 reports in the course of the years during which they were 

 occupied with their enquiries. That in which this matter 

 was made the subject of report was one issued in 1872, 

 under the title Kommissionens for under sickning of hallan- 

 dena inam Kronoskogavne i Finland slutliga yttrande och forslag 

 i amnet. 



In this, amongst other subjects upon which they report, 

 or to which they refer, is the climatal effect of woods and 

 forests, in regard to which they say : ' The meteorological 

 influence of woods and forests is a subject which ought to 

 be seriously considered in a land such as Finland. 



' We have the testimony of history that the climate of 

 Central Europe has improved as agriculture has advanced 

 and forests have been destroyed. At the same time not 

 a few who have given attention to the subject have 

 brought forward what they consider evidence of a con- 

 trary effect having been produced, and they allege that 

 when agriculture is carried beyond certain limits this 

 deteriorates the climate. To the determination of the 

 point at issue it is necessary to ascertain whether the 

 effects said to have been produced are all attributable to 

 one and the same cause, or to several distinct causes in 

 operation at the same time, or even at different times, in 

 the same place, or even at different places. 



'A climate may be affected injuriously or otherwise 

 either by increased light and heat, or by increased cold 

 and rain ; and it is from the influence attributed to woods 

 and forests that students of climatology have been led to 

 take up and discuss the subject of conservation of 

 forests. 



' Some contend for the conservation of forests as a 

 means of preventing an increase of light and heat, and 

 they tell amongst other tilings how, in the Italian penin- 

 sula, as in Lombardy, even with its forests and its system 

 of artificial irrigation, the flow of springs and streamlets 

 has been diminished, and in some cases these have been 

 dried up where woods have been destroyed and the brush- 



I 



