CHAPTER VIII. 

 FORESTS AND FOREST TREES. 



1 THE extent of forests in the Grand Duchy of Finland/ 

 writes Dr. Blomqvist, Director of the School of Forestry 

 at Evois, ' has been calculated at about 3,000 square 

 geographical miles, which is about 56 per cent, of the 

 entire surface of the country. About 2,559 square miles 

 of these forests belong to the State, of which 90 per cent, 

 are situated in the government of Uleaborg, which com- 

 prises half of the area of the country, and is situated to 

 the north of 64 lat. 



' The situation of Finland, between 59 48' and 70 60' 

 lat., occasions naturally considerable differences in the 

 forest vegetation, both in regard to the species and the 

 development of the trees. On the other hand, the differ- 

 ence of altitude is not so great as to cause very remarkable 

 differences in this vegetation. Finland is not a plain ; it 

 presents, on the contrary, a very varied aspect of lands, 

 both high and low. Still, the elevation above the level 

 of the sea is by no means considerable : the greater part 

 scarcely reaches an altitude of 130 metres. In the interior 

 the lands which separate the water systems rise to about 

 200 metres ; in the north-east, as in Lapland, the altitude 

 amounts to 300 metres, only some isolated mountains in 

 Lapland rise to an altitude of from 600 to 900 metres. 



' The greater part of the wooded soil of Finland consists 

 of sandy earth, coming from glacial and diluvial formations, 

 and it is found in beds of considerable depth. These lands 

 are, for the greater part, more or less stony, and they pre- 

 sent a great variety both in regard to their physical condi- 

 tion and in regard to the composition of their mineral 

 constituents. The fertility of this sandy soil depends 



