The Forests of Russia and their Products. 



By JAMES RUSHFORTH. 



It should be remarked that timber iu Russia fiiiures amouf^ the 

 most important items of foreign trade, and ranks third among tlie 

 staples of Russian exports. When we consider besides, the 

 enormous amount of wood that is consumed in the towns and the 

 interior of the country in various forms, the timber resources of the 

 empire must be enormous; yet, says a Russian authority, although 

 latterly there has been a marked increase in the number of saw-mills 

 in the forest districts, it cannot be said that the Russians have reaped 

 all the advantages to be derived from these natural riches. According 

 to statistical data there are in European Russia alone 172,418,000 

 dessiatins (about 400,500,000 acres) of forests, or 4?)-3 per cent, of the 

 entire territory. Such an extent of forests is not to be found in any 

 other country of Europe. Two-thirds, or 60 per cent, of the mass of 

 forests extend over the north-eastern districts, then follow the north- 

 western governments, where the relative proportion to the general 

 area is 30 to 50 per cent. In the middle Volga, the Baltic, and western 

 and central provinces the proportion is 27'2 per cent. ; in the south- 

 western provinces it is 2'5 per cent. ; in the Little Russia and Steppe 

 governments, I'G per cent. ; and in the southern governments, 

 including the Crimea, it is only 0'7 per cent. Here are not included 

 Finland and the Caucasus, which contain splendid timber in great 

 variety, nor the Polish governments, where the forests occupy a very 

 extensive area. 



We will liere enumerate the most noteworthy species of trees 

 usually met with throughout the Russian empire. The common pine, 

 or Scots fir, extends very far north in Russia ; it is found also in the 

 south — in tlie Crimea and the Caucasus. It is noteworthy that the 

 difference of locality has an enormous influence on the longevity of the 

 pine. There are many examples of these trees reaching an age of 

 oCO years or more. In the northern provinces, the trees which are 

 cut down for masts are mostly from 200 to 250 years old. Of these, 

 the oldest tree will measure, at the thickest part of the trunk, 32 in. 

 in diameter and 63 ft. in height, up to where it is cut off at the top ; 

 the youngest will measure 28 in. in diameter at the tliickest part of 



