Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - III. The Land Laws of Finland
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years they pay no rent; sometimes for the latter part of
their period they pay only half or one-third of the agreed
rent, which is itself less than the average rent paid to
private landlords. It varies from one-fourteenth of
the total grain and hay crops, which is the average in
the far north (as in Kemi, for example), to as much as
one-sixth in Viborg, one-fifth in St. Michel, and
one-fourth in Tavasthus; the pasture and timber from the
woods often more than paying the rent. A lease is
granted for twenty-five years with the option of
renewing it for another twenty-five, the widow and children
having the right to remain till the expiration of the
lease if the husband dies. Compensation is paid for
all improvements.
To fully understand the position of the settlers on
the Crown lands, some further explanation is required
of a certain Swedish-Finnish institution called
“krono-hemman” or Crown farms. These farms, according to
official statistics, represent about 1500 (or 8 per cent.)
out of a total of 19,500 “mantals” or units of
taxation; another 16,000 out of this total representing
ordinary peasant farms. In 1896 these krono-hemman
were estimated to number 8000 out of a total of
117,000 farms. Originally the “krono-bönder” were
tenant farmers under the Crown, as the “land-bönder”
are tenants on private estates. In the course of time,
however, they have obtained so many rights, that they
are more like proprietors than tenants. Their rent
does not amount to more than the taxes paid by the
ordinary peasant proprietor. In early times they
gained an exemption from all payments for a certain
number of years, in order that they might take up the
cultivation of waste land and abandoned farms; they
received such an exemption, for instance, in 1723, after
the great war, and frequently again later, the last
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