478 Forestry Quarterly. 



The north temperate zone of the Old World has, with 3,$ 

 thousand square miles the most important forest area, of which 

 Russia in Europe has 800, in Asia 2,200, or altogether 3 million 

 square miles. The author places Canada next with 1,260 square 

 miles, the United States and Mexico next. 



While European Russia has 38.8% of forest area (according to 

 others 36) it is stated that 57% of the population are crowded 

 on 22% of the area and suffer from lack of wood. At least 20 

 million use straw and dung for fuel, withdrawing 15,000 cubic 

 feet of manure each year from the farms. 



In southwestern Asia, in the mountains there are still coni- 

 ferous woods, but the largest part is sandy plain occasionally with 

 chapparal. 



In western Siberia the watershed of the Ob (Tomsk and Omsk) 

 is an immense, swampy plain, of 26,500 square miles, one-third 

 without any forest, two-thirds conifer forest with little fit for cul- 

 tivation. Seven thousand square miles are tundra. 



Eastern Siberia shows similar zones, coniferous forest, almost 

 without population, occupying 27,000 square miles. North of the 

 73 dwarf growth begins. South of the Amur the most significant 

 growth is to be found. Roads, people, capital, are lacking to de- 

 velop these areas. 



The Russian forest department controls altogether 870 million 

 acres, and 1,025 million acres in Asia are not yet placed in its 

 hands. But only 250 million acres are State forests, the rest held 

 either for partition among the peasants, in other branches of the 

 administration (mines) for corporations, or in dispute. An army 

 of nearly 32,000 guards, of whom 20;ooo educated underforesters, 

 are employed. The stumpage is usually sold to lumbermen at a 

 stated price per tree or per area, sometimes for a number of years. 



In 1897 on the peninsula of Kola for 288,000 pieces sawlogs 

 of 12 inch and over to be taken in 5 years nearly $200,000 were 

 paid; a million trees in Jeniseick were sold in 1900 for 13 years 

 at 20 cents apiece. In 1903 the cut offered at $25 million brought 

 at auction over $30 million. The total receipts in 1902 were $32.3 

 million, expenditures $5.7, net $2.6. 



The law of 1899 which obligates buyers to reforest has mostly 

 remained a dead letter ; the lumbermen allow as a rule their guar- 

 antees to lapse, so that in 7 years $3,000,000 were to the credit of 

 the planting fund, only half of which had been used. Meanwhile 



