‘* SARTAGE” IN FINLAND. 109 
decayed vegetable mould which seemed to, hold its: mineral 
particles together, and. to retain the water of precipitation, 
and thus it loosens, pulverises, and dries:the earth; it 
destroys: reptiles, insects,.and worms, with. their eggs, and 
the seeds of trees and of smaller plants; it supplies. in the 
ashes which it deposits on the surface important elements 
for the growth of a new forest, clothing, as well as of the 
usual objects of agriculture industry; and by the changes 
thus produced it fits the ground for the reception.of a 
vegetation different in character from that which had 
spontaneously covered it. These new conditions help to 
explain the natural succession of forest crops, so generally 
observed..in all woods cleared by fire and then abandoned.’ 
Thus may be accounted for the abundant crops, for the 
sake. of which the practice is continued. 
Should. the ground not be retained permanently under 
agriculture, whether because it becomes exhausted of such 
constituents as are required for the crops desired, or from 
some other cause, it is, as is intimated in the statement 
quoted, likely to become covered again with a crop of self- 
sown trees, of the same kind as those destroyed, or of a 
kind of higher pecuniary value. This I have reported as 
having been seen by me on the banks of the Saima See, 
the firs: were replaced either by a crop of fir or by a crop 
of birch. The fir or pine may be of more value for build- 
ing purposes, but the birch supplies a better firewood ; 
and for this there is, and there is likely to be for a long 
time to come, an ever-increasing demand in St. Petersburg, 
to which it can be sent from most places in Finland by 
water. 
Tt may be asked next, should it happen in the case 
supposed, that the crop of trees'‘destroyed be not replaced 
‘by another such crop, what will the proximate effect upon 
the climate be? To this, those whom I consider best 
qualified to judge, would say: Most probably one bene- 
ficial for agriculture. 
