Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 12 | 1919

The article describes a method to prepare growth and yield tables for forests in Northern Finland, which differ markedly from forests in the southern part of the land. They are mostly uneven-aged, and there are little forests that belong to separate age-classes. The forests are predominantly old. The most common age-class in the old forest’s group is 150-160 years. Also, the lands are poorer than in Southern Finland. Because the variation of the poorer sites is larger than in better sites, the number of sample plots needed to prepare the growth and yield tables has to be larger than in Southern Finland, where the lands are better. The yield tables cannot be prepared for all the numerous forest site types of Northern Finland. The number of age-classes has to be relatively low. In consequence, the growth and yield tables will not be as accurate as those made for the better forest site types in Southern Finland.

• Lakari, 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

The study about the formation of hummock ridges on the peatlands is based on research conducted between years 1915-1919 in Pyhäjoki area in middle Ostrobothnia area in Western Finland, in Kuusamo and Kuolajärvi in north-east Finland, and in different parts of Finnish and partly also in Norwegian Lapland.   

The hummock ridges and the “rimpis” are evolutionary in close connection with each other. Hence the sliding of peat plays an important role in the formation of hammock ridges. The formation of regularly positioned hummock ridges requires sloping surface of the moor, where the water flow or the movement of the peat goes in one direction. Formation of hummock ridges is determined by climatic factors, particularly by the floods and other weather conditions in spring time. 

Conclusion of the study is that the theories up to now about the formation of hummock ridges have not understood the phenomenon completely. The different morphological factors affect by themselves or together by the formation of regular groupings of the hummock ridges.     

• Auer, E-mail: va@mm.unknown

The studies were conducted in 1913-1916 in state forests of Finland as a part of a large survey of peatlands by the Forest Service’s districts in Ostrobothnia in the Western Finland. The area and type of peatlands were estimated based on data of National Land Survey of Finland. In the 36 counties of Ostrobothnia, the total area of peatlands was approximately 1.4 million hectares. 30% of the peatlands are treeless bogs, 45% pine swamps, 5% spruce swamps, 15% areas resembling pine swamps and 5% areas resembling spruce swamps. The article describes in detail different peatland types and their vegetation within these classes. The peatlands were divided into five classes by their suitability for drainage and forestry or agriculture. In addition, the depth of peat, height growth of the peat and formation of peatlands in the area are discussed.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Backman, E-mail: ab@mm.unknown