Articles containing the keyword 'karja'

Curly birch (Betula pendula var. carelica (Merklin) Hejtmanek) is widely distributed over north-western part or Russia, including the Baltic Soviet Republics and Belorussia. Experiences of growing this decorative species in Soviet Karelia and Leningrad region are presented. Commonly used classifications of the species are described, and recommendations for management of curly birch cultures and production of planting stock in greenhouses are given.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Jevdokimov, E-mail: aj@mm.unknown

Since the end of 1960s some 350 voluntary forestry cooperation areas covering about 10% of Finland’s total private forest area have been established in the country in order to avoid drawbacks of small individual units. The aim of the study was to find out why most of these cooperative areas have been established in the area of northern Karelia forestry board district in Eastern Finland, whereas elsewhere establishing has advanced very slowly. »Soft» research techniques based on free interviews was used to gather the data. Attitudes of the interest organizations of forest owners and forest industry companies, question of organizer of cooperation, and resources for regional forestry planning were found as most important factors to explain the differences in development of cooperation in different areas.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Hurskainen, E-mail: jh@mm.unknown
• Reunala, E-mail: ar@mm.unknown

The article is based on studies made in the Karelian isthmus in 1936-1938 before the World War II broke in 1939. Further studies were not possible after the war when the area was handed over to Soviet Union. Economic data of agriculture and forestry of the farms had mostly been regarded separately in the early economic studies of small farms in Finland. This survey aimed at studying influence of forestry in the economy of a small farm. 141 farms were included in a more detailed survey.

Forestry accounted for in average 38% of total income of the farms in 1937-1938. The farms had sold wood often, the amounts being often small. Good transport connections in the area facilitated the sales. Over 70% were sales at delivered price, and about half of the wood was small-sized timber. According to the results of the survey, forestry was important for the small farms in Karelian isthmus. The farmers could not have made a living without the forests. Hoveter, the farms had had to overuse the forest resources. The wood resources decreased by 18-22% in 1922-1938. They were, however, at the same level as in average in Finland in 1938.

The article includes an abstract in German.

• Virolainen, E-mail: jv@mm.unknown

Finland has a long tradition of grazing cattle in the forests and common land. There are also reports of degradation of forests by grazing already in 1600th century. The aim of the survey was to study which positive and negative effects grazing has in forests.

The study concludes that grazing has caused considerable economic losses through damages to forests. In addition, woodland pastures cannot give the yields required in modern animal husbandry. The quality of woodland pastures have decreased after the woodlands used in slash and burn culture have become wooded.

Grazing has also some positive effects to forests. It increases the diversity of vegetation in the woodland pastures and spreads species to new areas. This is supported by the lists of species found in different woodland pastures. Cattle destroy large grasses like Calamagrostis, which may avail growth of tree seedlings in the pastures. Grazing can also prepare the site for tree seedlings. On the other hand, prolonged grazing destroys tree seedlings and prevents regeneration.

The article includes a German summary.

• Lampimäki, E-mail: tl@mm.unknown

The aim of the study was to collect the first complete statistics on pastures and grazing of cattle in Finland. The data was collected in connection with an investigation of wood utilization in 1937-1938. Overall trend in grazing is that forest pastures are being replaced with restricted forest pastures and those further with hay meadows. This development is proceeding in the whole country, and it is almost completed in Western Finland. Grazing will probably be transferred completely to cultivated lands in the coming decades. This is important question also for the forestry, because of the damage grazing causes for forest.

Forest pastures are, however, still very important in animal husbandry. They produce over 500 million forage units. It would require 400,000 ha of hay meadows to produce corresponding amount of fodder. To sustain the present number of cattle, a third of all arable land in Finland should be hay meadows. The main goal for development of pastural agriculture is improving the effectivity of grazing and productivity of the pastures.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Jäntti, E-mail: aj@mm.unknown

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of grazing of the cutting areas to the ground vegetation and regeneration of spruce. The cutting areas could be divided into two kinds of areas based on the vegetation. Hillocks were drier and poorer than other parts of the cutting areas. Their vegetation did suffer less from grazing than the other parts of the cutting areas. The shade-loving plant species decreased, but as the poorer sites have less edible plants, cattle caused less damage than in the better sites. The even spaces between the hillocks had both positive and negative changes. Cattle transport seeds, tile and fertilize the soil, promote paludification, and decrease competition by the primary species like large grasses. This is beneficial to new species. Grazing is directed to large grass species like Calamagrostis. Those species that cattle reject, become more abundant. Stamping damages especially shallow rooted species and perennial species, like Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.). Larger tree seedlings may get injuries in the stem.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Hertz, E-mail: mh@mm.unknown

The abundance of Norway spruce (Picae abies (L.) H. Karst.) undergrowth is common for the state forests in Karelia near the Russian border, in Finland. In the survey, the occurrence of the undergrowth was studied. The article includes a review on the ownership of the forest, forest soils in the area, and the state of forests in the area. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is the dominative species in 67%, Norway spruce in 27% and Betula sp. 6% of the state forests. Only 2% of the forests are 1‒20 years of age. Stands in the age group of 61‒80 years are the most common (25%). Norway spruce undergrowth is most abundant in the municipality of Salmi. The forests are typically moist forest site types or grass-herb site types. If the stands are allowed to develop naturally, even the Vaccinium sites become Norway spruce dominated. Spruce undergrowth is formed seldom under a spruce forest unless the stand is thin or has openings. Because Norway spruce is often rare in the mineral soil sites, the undergrowth is often regenerated from seeds that spread from spruce swamps. Earlier practiced shifting cultivation and its frequent fires prevented regeneration of spruce undergrowth. Similarly, the common felling method used, clear felling in strips, does not promote spruce undergrowth. Consequently, their occurrence is likely to decrease in the future.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Pöntynen, E-mail: vp@mm.unknown

Sample trees of Betula sp. were felled in North Karelia in different forest site types. The stands, both mixed and pure stands, had been regenerated in areas where shifting cultivation had been practiced. Sample trees represented breast height diameters up to 43 cm. Diameter was measured in distances of 1/10 of the height of the tree to calculate the stem form. The form factor was higher for the good forest site types than the poor sites. The volume tables were calculated based on the assumption that diameter does not affect the form factor. Comparing the volume table to the original data, it was found that the table seems to form a successful fitting of the data. Control data proved that the method seems to give a good fitting to the used data. Thus, the volume table can be used to measure volume of birch stands in North Karelia.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Hildén, E-mail: nh@mm.unknown

The study includes a detailed survey of 154 farms in the area. Part of the results are presented in the second and third part of the article series about agriculture in Perä-Pohjola and Lapland. The typical breed of cattle in the area was the white Northern Finnish landrace (pohjoissuomenkarja). The size of herds in the farms varied from one to 25, but exceeded seldom 10 cows. Summer pastures were mostly forest pastures. For the winter hay and leaf fodder was gathered. The article includes a detailed description of cattle-keeping in the area. In addition, the farms often had horses and sheep. Keeping pigs or poultry was rare.

The PDF includes a summary in English. This is a fourth part of four-article series about the natural resources in the area of Perä-Pohjola and Lappi.

• Jutila, E-mail: kj@mm.unknown

Only 0.1% of the land area of Perä-Pohjola and Lapland is arable land. The study includes a detailed survey of 154 farms in the area. Part of the results are presented in the second part of the article series about Perä-Pohjola and Lapland (Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 18). The farms had in average 1.87 hectares of arable land and 16.1 hectares of meadows. Cattle-manure was the most important dressing. The main crops were barley, hay, potatoes and rye. The article includes a detailed description about the cultivation methods.

The PDF includes a summary in English. This is a third part of four-article series on the natural resources in the area of Perä-Pohjola and Lappi. The article includes a detailed survey of the farms in the area.

• Jutila, E-mail: kj@mm.unknown

Perä-Pohjola and Lappi are situated almost entirely north of the Arctic Circle, being one of the northernmost areas, where agriculture and forestry are practiced. The state owns 87% of the land, of which 42% are productive forests. Only 0.8% of the land is agricultural land, mostly meadows. Agriculture is mainly dependent on animal husbandry. The most important agricultural crops were barley and potato. From the economic point of view, forestry is the most important industry in the area. Forestry also gives the agricultural population extra income, especially in the winter. The total population of the area was 31,488 in 1917. Development of the connections to the area is important for both agriculture and forestry.

The PDF includes a summary in English. This is a first part of four-article series on the natural resources in the area of Perä-Pohjola and Lappi.

• Jutila, E-mail: kj@mm.unknown

In South-West Finland the usual method to make leaf fodder for cattle has been to cut the branches and collect the new sprouts again next year. According to this review, the most common tree species to be topped is Betula sp. Downy Birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) grows shoots easier than silver birch (B. pendula Roth). The topped forests are usually small and situated near the settlements, next to the fields and meadows. The birch trees are typically cut when they are 15-20 years old. Regularly topped birch rots easily and seldom exceeds 50 years. The capacity to grow shoots depends on the age of the tree, site and time of the cutting. The risk for rotting can be decreased by removing only part of the shoots and cutting the shoots a short distance from the base of the shoot. Collecting leaf fodder decreased in Finland, and was common only in the South-West Finland and Åland.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Lukkala, E-mail: ol@mm.unknown

The article is a review on the lands that were donated to the Russian aristocracy in Eastern and Southeastern Finland in 1700s. The farmers in the area used to be tenants of state lands or independent land owners. The insufficient and diverse stipulation of the ownership of the lands in the donation documents caused later disputes between the landlords and the farmers. One of the issues was who had right to use the forests. For the farmers this meant significant reductions in their right to harvest timber and household wood, or practice shifting cultivation. There were attempts to improve the situation of the tenants, but the final solution came in the end of 1800s, when the parliament began to promote farmers’ right to purchase the lands. In the land reform, the state raised a loan to purchase the donated lands, and give them to the farmers, who would then pay back their share of the loan. Part of the forests remained state lands in the reform. Several jointly owned forests were also established using the state forests to give access to household wood for farms that had little own forests. The private forests on donated lands had larger standing crop than the private forests in general. Together with increasing demand of wood for the developing manufacturing industry, this gave possibility for abusive practices in timber trade. The timber prices were low, and farmers exchanged felling rights to loan.

• Saari, E-mail: es@mm.unknown