PERIODICAL LITERATURE 



FOREST GEOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION 



One of the Canadian Trade Commissioners, 

 Siberia's writing from Omsk, expands on the timber re- 



Forcsts sources of Siberia, in the behef that Siberia con- 



tains a large supply of exportable material which 

 may come into competition with Canada. There is. in our opinion, no 

 immediate, or even near, future likelihood of such competition to be 

 feared, and the commissioner recognizes some of the difficulties, which 

 lie mainly in the absence of means of transportation, lack of labor, and 

 untoward water conditions. When attempting to describe the forest- 

 forming species, the commissioner finds himself in an inextricable 

 tangle, mixing up pines and cedars, spruces and firs, so that no intelli- 

 gible distinction is possible. The statistical information must also, like 

 all Asiatic Russian data, be taken with caution. 



"The forest area of Asiatic Russia has been roughly estimated at 

 853,000,000 acres. The State owns the bulk of the forests of this re- 

 gion, the area amounting to 642,000.000 acres, of which 39 per cent is 

 classed as rich forest lands. In addition the forest possessions of the 

 Imperial Cabinet have comprised an area of 54,000,000 acres, chiefly 

 in the Altai district. These forest lands will now probably be converted 

 into national property and more attention devoted to the exploitation 

 of their timber wealth. Large tracts of forest land also belong to the 

 Cossacks, particularly along the Amur River, in eastern Siberia. 



"The largest forest areas of Asiatic Russia are in the western and 

 eastern regions of Siberia. It is estimated that in that part of Siberia 

 which lies west of Lake Baikal there are 465,000,000 acres of virgin 

 forest, and eastern Siberia, while not so richly endowed, has sufficient 

 timber to supply the requirements of foreign markets for many years 

 to come. A large i)art of the forest area of Siberia is still unexplored, 

 the resources in number of trees, species, and value being unknown. 

 Thus it is estimated that onl\- about a quarter of the whole area had 

 been either wh(jlly or partially investigated by the year 1915" 



So far the cutting has been done mainly for local demand, except in 

 eastern Siberia, where an cxj)ert trade \ ia \ ladivostok and other ports 



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