Ii8 THE FORESTS OF FINLAND 



The distribution of the various species of tree in the 

 forests of Finland is a point of considerable interest at 

 the present time. 



The Scots pine (P. sylvestris) is the dominant species 

 over the greater part of the dry moorlands and areas 

 of pure sand. It also occupies, practically alone, the 

 numberless peaty areas. Mixed with other species, it 

 covers the slightly better class of soils, although here 

 the spruce is usually present as an underwood. On all 

 these classes of soil, both favourable and unfavourable, 

 the pine in Finland develops a fine straight stem which 

 always finds a ready market. 



The spruce (Picea excelsa and P. obovata with inter- 

 mediate forms) covers the greater part of the swampy 

 soils. It also forms the dominant species on the more 

 fertile soils which have not been subject to bad fires. 

 It is for this reason that the spruce is commoner than 

 the pine in Finland proper, the sea-coasts of Western 

 Nyland and the Government of Vasa, and the northern 

 parts of Car61ie in the direction of the Russian frontier. 

 In the State forests in the north and m the regions 

 adjacent to Suomenselka the spruce occupies areas 

 in which, from the commercial forestry point of view, 

 it is not the species most suitable to the soil. It is 

 also present in nearly all the mixed forests which grad- 

 ually pass into pure spruce areas. 



The birch (Betula vermcosa and B. odorata) forms the 

 chief species on the extensive tracts of Lapland and 

 North Finland which have been subject to incendiarism. 

 It also forms more or less extensive forests in all parts 

 of the country which have been subject to fire, or to the 

 pernicious system of shifting cultivation in which fire 



