NATURE OF THE TREES 113 



ported one million cubic metres of pit-timber and 

 420,000 cubic metres of wood for paper-making, while 

 in that year all the State forests only yielded 78,000 

 cubic metres of these materials. There is practically 

 no restriction to fellings made in areas of forest owned 

 by timber companies and private persons ; and conse- 

 quently their methods of working are usually wasteful 

 and extravagant. There exists a law under which the 

 owner is bound to take measures to reaff orest all areas 

 of above twelve acres in extent which he clears, but it 

 is a dead letter. The future of the country, so far as 

 its forestry resources go, will depend more and more 

 upon the State forests, unless the forest laws are revised 

 and drastic measures taken to enforce them. Here, 

 however, we are more concerned with the timber 

 export possibilities of the country at the present time ; 

 and in this connection the whole area of forests, State 

 and private, requires careful consideration. 



The history of the forests of Finland and their nature 

 may be told in a few words. When man first made 

 his appearance in Finland the whole country was a 

 vast forest. The chief trees were the Scots pine and 

 the spruce. The pine had originally formed vast pure 

 forests, but on the better classes of soil it was giving 

 place to the spruce, which had come in from the East. 

 The areas on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and the 

 elevated mountains were bare. Between the barren 

 area (tundra) along the Arctic Ocean and the forest 

 zone proper stretched a narrow band of stunted birch. 

 In the south, especially to the south-east and south- 

 west, groves of oak occupied the more fertile soils in 

 the plains and on the lower slopes of the hills. On 



