H 



most other European countries. Seed-productivity is plentiful among 

 the forest-trees: in Central and South Finland 2 3 abundant seed- 

 years occur for the pine and the spruce in each decade, the quality 

 of seed being good in both cases. Ths birch and the alder give good, 

 seed almost every year, but o these a comparatively greater parti 

 is wasted than in the case of coniferous trees, whose seed germinates 

 more easily in the fresh spring soil and is less easily prevented by the 

 undergrowth of the commoner forest-types from reaching the ground 

 and developing. In unfavourable circumstances the regeneration of 

 leaf -trees occurs chiefly through new shoots, the facility with which 

 the latter are born helping even such forests as are used for pasturage 

 from declining all too much. 



The regeneration of forests is appreciably more difficult in North 

 Finland. Here the better seed-years for the pine and the spruce 

 recur only on an average each tenth year, and even then the seed- 

 productivity is only a small portion of that further south. In addition, 

 the young plants suffer from drought in the prevailing heath-forests 

 and perish easily in the struggle among themselves and especially 

 with the older trees for the meagre sustenance of the soil. On ac- 

 count of the scant regeneration, even the pine forests are often of dif- 

 ferent ages, in the sense that trees and plants are met with in them 

 from several different regeneration years. On the northern boun- 

 dary of the pine the rarity of regeneration years has a still greater 

 effect on the proportion of different ages among the trees and forests. 

 Here a regeneration year can occur on an average only each century; 

 the northern pines date from about the years 1850, 1760, 1650 ot- 

 1575. 



Owing to the unfavourable density of crop of the foi 

 rests, the growing stock and the yield of the forests are not nearly 

 as favourable as would be expected from the proportion of age- 

 classes. In the majority of cases, especially among the private forests, 

 the unproductive area can be reckoned, owing to the sparseness 

 the forest, in tens per cent, the growing stock and yield being at the 

 least in a corresponding degree below normal. Together with an unfav^ 

 ourable proportion among the different species of trees and th^ 

 inferior quality of the trees left untouched in the cuttings, the matter 

 does much to decrease the value of the forests. More regrettable 

 is the fact that the forests in the worst condition are generally situated 

 on the best trafficable sites and belong to the most productive forest - 

 types. As will be observed from Fig. 3, there are already districts 

 in Finland, which in spite of the naturally favourable conditions and 

 the great size of our forests, have been calculated to contain hardly 

 sufficient forest for the needs of the local population. The more abun- 

 dant stocks of forest are generally found in the forests of the State 

 and the Joint Stock Companies. 



