142 THE FOREST LANDS OF FINLAND. 



produce and the products of the forests might be equalised 

 approximately, if not perfectly ; and one object aimed at 

 in the inspection of forests ia Finland is to prevent the 

 cutting down of trees from going on faster than the 

 re-growth of these. 



Meanwhile the reckless destruction of forests has been 

 arrested, and the forest property has been improved. By 

 Dr Ignatius it is remarked that if Finland, notwithstanding 

 the reckless waste which has gone on, be still a country 

 rich in forests, this is attributable not to the climate and to 

 a soil specially favourable for the growth of wood, but to 

 the fact that more than half of the wooded portion of it 

 belongs to the State. And these forests have not only 

 been preserved to the State, but they have been to some 

 extent improved, and information which may be made 

 available for a greater and more extensive improvement 

 of them has been collected. 



SECTION B. FOREST CONSERVATION AND AMELIORATION, 



The object which the advanced forest economy of 

 Europe seeks to accomplish is three-fold : first, to secure 

 a sustained production from the forests ; second, to secure 

 along with this an amelioration of their condition ; and 

 third, a reproduction of them by self-sown seed when they 

 are felled. 



The sustained production and the amelioration of the 

 condition of forests is under the modern method of ex- 

 ploitation, the Fachworke Method, as it is called in German, 

 La Methode des Compartements, as it is called in France, is 

 I had almost said, in its application to every single 

 forest the result of a slowly progressive development, 

 dependent on information in regard to conditions and 

 circumstances slowly and necessarily successively obtained, 

 and this is being collected. 



Amongst other data desired by a forester, of whom 

 it is required to determine in regard to the forests of a 



