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The government tried some hundreds of years ago to
stop this method of cultivation; and it has now been
decided that the burning of the forests may only be
repeated at intervals of thirty years where the forest is
of hard wood, at intervals of forty years where it is
soft wood, and not at all on stony soil or rock thinly
covered with humus, or in pine-forests with heath or
sandy soil; while only two crops may be taken after
the burning. Some of these restrictions must be
regarded as a mistake. In Western Finland this
forest burning is now very little practised, though it is
still common in parts of the East. Over the whole of
Finland only a small percentage of the grain harvest
comes from this method of cultivation, though more
than half the harvest is so produced in Carelia and
Savolaks (parts of the present province of St. Michel
and Southern Kuopio) and some other parts of the
country. The first crop after the burning sometimes
gives a return of 50 to 1, and when it is no longer
possible to get good harvests of grain the grazing is
fine for some years afterwards. To burn the mosses
and undergrowth when the timber has been removed
is often desirable. As a rule it is better to use burnt
forest land for some years for grain production, and
afterwards for grazing purposes, and plant new woods
on old worn-out grass land and heath. These burnt-over
woods are used for agricultural purposes in France
(where the process is called “sartage” or “écobuage”),
in the Ardennes, in the Alps, and in Germany,
notable examples being found in Odenwald. A far
more pernicious practice is the burning of old grass
land, the fire being covered in with turf and allowed
to burn downwards. This has been done on low
ground bare of trees, and the land then made to yield
crops of oats till it is completely barren.
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