44 



spot is deserted. In the south, where land is more scarce compared 

 with the population, the same land is cultivated with kumari anew in 

 12, 10, or 7 years ; but in North Canara, the virgin forest, or old kumari, 

 which has not been cultivated within the memory of man, is generally selected 

 for the operation. 



1 This rude system of culture,' says Dr. Gleghorn, formerly Conservator of 

 Forests in the Presidency of Madras, ' prevails under various names in dif- 

 ferent eastern countries. It is called kumari in Mysore and Canara, pounam 

 in Malabar, punaka in Salem, chena in Ceylon.' 



The name kumari is peculiar to the Canara and the Mysore districts. It 

 is thus described in an extract from the Proceedings of the Board of Revenue : 

 'The name is given to cultivation which takes place in first clearings. A 

 hill-side is always selected, on the slopes of which a space is cleared at the 

 end of the year. The wood is left to dry till the following March Or April, 

 and then burned. In most localities the seed is sown in the ashes on the fall 

 of the first rains, without the soil being touched by implement of any kind ; 

 but in the taluk of Bekal the land is ploughed. The only further operations 

 are weeding and fencing. The crop is gathered towards the end of the year, 

 and the produce is stated to be at least double that which could be obtained 

 under the ordinary modes of cultivation/ 



Gabriel Rein, in a volume entitled Statistick Techning of Stor- 

 furstenddmet Finland, third edition, 1853, states that from very ancient 

 times the Finns had practised agriculture, and for centuries this 

 has been their chief means of support; and this more so as the 

 supplies derived from hunting and fishing became diminished. 

 It is to the honour of the Finnish people that by them agriculture 

 has been carried to the most northern boundaries of their country, 

 and has thus elevated or prepared for a higher state of civilization the' 

 inhabitants of those regions. And there it may be seen practised by 

 the most northern agriculturists about Altengard in Norway, where 

 the Finns are called Quains, the designation Finn being there given to 

 Laplanders. 



The soil of Finland is naturally unsuitable for a highly developed 

 system of agriculture, partly in consequence of the stony character of 

 the ground, partly in consequence of the poor character of that 

 soil requiring the labour of years to fit it for superior culture, and 

 partly in consequence of the sparseness of the population ; and such 

 was everywhere originally the condition of the country. So far back 

 as history reaches, the Finnish people have carried out this kind of 

 nomadic use of the soil, mode of culture which could be applied 

 for a short time to one portion of the land, and then, this being 

 abandoned, be applied to another. 



The designation Svedanje is derived from Sveda, to scorch or burn, 

 or burn off. This term and the corresponding term Svedja seemed to 



