" SARTAGE " IN FINLAND. Ill 



tion of forest by the spreading of fire is tolerated, appar- 

 ently complacently, by the proprietors; that in some of these 

 it is not even restricted by the Government, though the 

 practice is restricted in some districts, and prohibited 

 in others ; and here I may add, the practice, where it is 

 tolerated, is approved by students of forest science, well 

 fitted by their knowledge of facts and principles, and by 

 tbeir knowledge of the localities and circumstances and 

 conditions of these to give an opinion entitled to respect. 



It may be the cass that there are extensive districts in 

 Finland in which the destruction of forests has been 

 carried to the extreme verge of safety ; and some in which 

 it may be the boundary line has been passed, but it is also 

 the case there are extensive regions in which it is not so ; 

 and it is alleged that the effect of forests on the humidity 

 of the soil and climate, for the sake of which, elsewhere, 

 forests, such as have been recklessly destroyed, are now 

 greatly desiderated, is not here required. Not only is it 

 so, but as trees growing in close proximity to a dwelling- 

 house are sometimes ordered to be felled because they 

 make or keep the house too damp for the health or 

 comfort of the inhabitants, so is the great abundance of 

 forest existing in the districts referred to supposed to be 

 injurious rather than otherwise to agricultural operations 

 there. 



From a statement in a work by P. Chr. Asbjoernsen, 

 entitled Om Skovene og oni et Ordnet Skoverug i Sorge. (p. 101), 

 a work published in Christiana, referred to by Marsh, it 

 appears that it has been remarked in Sweden that the 

 spring in many districts in which the forests have been 

 cleared away now comes a fortnight later than it did in 

 the last century. I attribute this to protracted frost, con- 

 sequent on diminished humidity of atmosphere. But, be 

 this as it may, it is alleged in Finland that the desiccation 

 consequent on the clearing of forest lands is favourable to 

 agriculture in that country, where there is in spring an 

 excess of humidity above what is desired, with no lack of 

 this in summer and autumn. And I know of nothing upon 



