Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Forestry
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
between the Crown and the parish authorities.
Destruction of the forest in these parts is so much
the more dangerous because regeneration is extremely
slow and difficult. In the Lapmark there are large
areas of old woodland where the forests have been
destroyed, and at the end of several generations show
no signs of fresh growth. In this country there is
indeed need for the forester’s art.
Of two kinds of State interference in forest business
the Finlanders have fortunately chosen State
ownership, instead of interference with private ownership.
As we have already pointed out, the State has from
the first asserted its rights over all waste land,
retaining not only the greater part of those northern
territories where practically nobody lives, or only a few
nomads are found with their reindeer, but also what
was left after an enclosure had been made and the
peasants had obtained their 750, 1200, or 2000 acres,
or as much as they could readily use. It is thus that
the Crown has obtained its enormous property of 35
million acres. In 1875 it amounted to 37½ millions,
but since then large areas have been given to the
peasants in addition to what they got at the
enclosures. There arises a question of great importance to
forest cultivation, one to which we have already alluded
and would now come back — whether large allotments
are for the future to be granted to settlers. Lest we
should seem to exaggerate the value of these Crown
properties, we must explain that 31¼ out of these 35
million acres are situated in the northern province of
Uleåborg, where indeed the Crown owns three-quarters
of the soil. Much of the land here is entirely
unproductive, even if it is not all peat-bog, marshes, or
rocks. On the other hand, there is a large area
well suited for forest-growth; and on the whole the
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
