“SARTAGE” IN FINLAND. 113 
subject amongst others. They issued several successive 
reports in the course of the years during which they were 
occupied with their enquiries. That in which this matter 
was made the subject of report was one issued in 1872, 
under the title Kommissionens for undersickning af héllan- 
dena inam Kronoskogaune ¢ Finland slutliga yttrande och forslag 
t amnet. 
In this, amongst other subjects upon which they report, 
or to which they refer, is the climatal effect of woods and 
forests, in regard to which they say :—‘ The meteorological 
influence of woods and forests is a subject which ought to 
be seriously considered in a land such as Finland. 
“We have the testimony of history that the climate of 
Central Europe has improved as agriculture has advanced 
and forests have been destroyed. At the same time not 
a few who have given attention to the subject have 
brought forward what they consider evidence of a con- 
trary effect having been produced, and they allege that 
when agriculture is carried beyond certain limits this 
deteriorates the climate. To the determination of the 
point at issue it is necessary to ascertain whether the 
effects said to have been produced are all attributable to 
one and the same cause, or to several distinct causes in 
operation at the same time, or even at different times, in 
the same place, or even at different places. 
‘A climate may be affected injuriously or otherwise 
either by increased light and heat, or by increased cold 
and rain; and it is from the influence attributed to woods 
and forests that students of climatology have been led to 
take up and discuss the subject of conservation of 
forests. 
‘Some contend for the conservation of forests as a 
means of preventing an increase of light and heat, and 
they tell amongst other things how, in the Italian penin- 
sula, as in Lombardy, even with its forests and its system 
of artificial irrigation, the flow of springs and streamlets 
has been diminished, and in some cases these have been 
dried up where woods have been destroyed and the brush- 
I 
