56 THE FOREST LANDS OF FINLAND. 
The designation Svedanje is Swedish, and may be attri- 
butable to the Swedish domination, and the consequent 
domination of the Swedish language. I have never heard 
it spoken of in Finland under any other name; but I 
have read of its being called Roehden. This may be some 
local designation, and probably a more ancient designation 
brought thither by forefathers of the present inhabitants 
on their settlement in the country. 
Dr Blomqvist, the Director of the Finnish School of 
Forestry at Evois, informed me that Roehden is a word 
altogether unknown in Finland, and is neither Swedish nor 
Finnish ; that there, as in Sweden, what is called in German 
Haynen, Uberlandbrennen, Réderwaldwirthschaft, Hauleng- 
wirthschaft, &c., and in French Sartage, in the commonly 
used Swedish language is called Svedanje. 
The root of this word is Sved,a designation applied to 
a piece of ground so treated. The active verb is Svedja, 
used to describe the proceeding. In the Finnish language 
the operation is called Paloviijelys—composed of palo, 
burning, and viljelys, culture; and there is applied to it 
the synonymous words, Kaskenpalto, Halmeruuki, and 
Huhtaruuki. And the piece of ground so treated is called 
accordingly Palomaa, or Kaski, or Halme, or Huhta. 
The clearing away of the woods thus practised is to 
prepare the ground for agriculture; but as much or more 
by the preparation of the soil as by the obtaining of spacé 
for the agriculture contemplated; and this is the peculiarity 
of the usage. 
A spot ‘is selected. The trees growing upon it are 
burned. and the seed is sown on the soil thus manured 
with the ashes of the trees. 
Dr Gabriel Rein, in a volume entitled Statistick Techning 
af Storfurstendémet Finland, third edition, 1853, states that 
from very ancient times the Finns had practised agricul- 
ture, 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, says he, to 
the honour of the Finnish people that by them agriculture 
