Canadian Forestry Journal, January, 1920 



How trees are sent out to the prairie farmer from the Tree Nursery Station of the Dominion 

 Forestry Branch at Indian Head, Sask. 



THE FOREST AS FINLAND'S MONEY CHEST 



Finland covers an area of approximately 

 150,000 square miles. It is a country of lakes 

 and swamps with tracts of higher land, occupied 

 by farms or covered by forests in between. The 

 climate is severe. Yet the snowfall is not suf- 

 ficient to interfere with winter logging. The 

 upland soil is poor and stony. Until quite re- 

 cently, even long after extensive state Forests 

 had been set aside, it was the belief of a majority 

 of the people (and the government) that the 

 forests should be cleared away and that the land 

 should be farmed. In spite of all of the en- 

 couragement that could be given the farmed and 

 grazed lands have not, in many decades, pro- 

 duced anywhere nearly sufficient food to satisfy 

 the nation's needs. It has only been within the 

 last 25 or 30 years that the real value of the 

 forests to the nation has been realized. 



The Finnish Forestry Department was created 

 in 1863. To it was entrusted the care and man- 

 agement of the 32,078,457 acres of state-owned 

 forested lands. Of this large area (approx- 

 imately one-third of Finland's total area) only 

 13,723,723 acres (43 per cent) is classed as 

 good quality forest land. The rest is either 

 swamp, poor sand or rock, and is either barren 

 or covered by a poor stand of tree growth. The 



first duty of the Finnish Forestry Department 

 was to protect, especially from fire and trespass, 

 these state forest lands. In doing so the Forest 

 Department officials had to face the vigorous 

 hostility of the people for the latter had long 

 considered the cutting and burning of the state 

 forests as within their personal rights.. During 

 the earlier part of its existence, the Forestry De- 

 partment was also hampered by small appropria- 

 tions ($107,000 for the year 1870), the first in- 

 come for that year being $51,000. The annual 

 appropriation was increased gradually until in 

 1900 it amounted to $239,000 and in the mean- 

 time the annual forest income had reached $!.- 

 024,000. In addition to the state and privately 

 owned forests there is a considerable area of 

 municipally owned forests. 



Pine, spruce and birch are the principal Fin- 

 nish forest trees. In 1910, which may be taken 

 as a normal year, after for a long time leaving 

 vigorously encouraged the transfer of land from 

 forest to agricultural use, Finland imported 

 about $20,000,000 worth of agricultural pro- 

 ducts while it exported about $30,000,000 worth 

 (80 per cent of all exports) of forest products. 

 These figures show the value to Finland of her 

 forests in international trade. 



