A more thorough explanation:

Sparsim means scattered or here and there. It was used in the past to describe situations where something was damaged in different places. For example, if a wood had damage in different areas, the whole wood would be considered damaged and the owner could recover for the waste. The same would apply to a house with damage in different rooms. However, if the damage was only in one area and could be separated from the rest, only that part would be considered damaged. This term is not commonly used today.