The ( o a s t a 1 a r e a (area 7 in Fig. 5) is formed by: the coast- 

 al belts of South -west and South Finland. In the matter of length 

 ot season of growth and temperature, this area is the most favourable 

 in Finland. Thus. the snowless period in the part furthest south- 

 west is about 26$ days and in the eastern part, where it is shortest, 

 205 days. The birch is in leaf on an average 140 150 days. At 

 Turku (Abo) the mean temperature in May, June, July, August 

 and September is 9,1, 14.6, 17.1, 14.9 and 10.2 C, at Helsinki 

 (Helsingfois) 8.8, 14.4, 17.0, 15.2 and 10.4 and at Viipuri (Vi- 

 borg). 9,o, 14.6, 17,4, 15.0 and 9.8 C. Also in the matter of its 

 average quality this area is unconditionally the best. Ahvenanmaa 

 (Aland) and the whole of the South-west Finland coastal district 

 belong to a grove-forest area, similar to that which, slightly less fer- 

 tile, is to be found between Viipuri (Viborg) and Kakisftlmi (Kexholm). 

 The propitiousness of the natural conditions of this area appears 

 also in the fact that the nobler leaf -trees are here fairly common. The 

 pine is to be regarded as the prevailing species, although the majority 

 of the forests are mixed forests, for which, on account of the proxim- 

 ity of the coast and the otherwise favourable conditions, even an 

 intensive culture is possible. Numerous larger and smaller timber- 

 refining works exist in the area. The former, situated at the mouths 

 of rivers flowing from the interior, use, however, the raw material 

 produced in the lake area of Finland. 



The Proportion of Ownership of Land and Forest. 



The proportion in which land is owned and the species of land 

 owned by the various land-owners have been decisively effected by 

 the historical development of settling in the country, this depending 

 again on its part on the appearance of arable land and on means of 

 communication. The oldest settlements are met with chiefly on the 

 banks of waters in South Finland in grove-forest centres of which 

 we have spoken earlier. From these districts which were the most 

 favourable to agriculture, settling has proceeded further along the 

 lines of the most arable land and the easiest means of communication. 

 In the north of Finland fixed settlements are even now restricted 

 chiefly to the banks of rivers, which were earlier almost the only 

 means of communication, the meadows on their banks providing 

 further good opportunities for cattle-farming. When in 1542, Gustaf 

 Vasa proclaimed the uninhabited wilds the property of God, the 

 King and the crown of Sweden*, the State became thus possessed 

 of the barrenest lands and those otherwise least suitable for culti- 

 vation. Still plainer is this the case with the lands which after the 

 general re-parcelling 1 ) of lands in the latter half of the eighteenth cen- 



*) Before the l80-jako>, here translated as general re-parcelJing, land was- 

 held according to arbitrary divisions among settlers. The lso-jako was essen- 

 tially a legal defining of boundaries. 



