20 THE FOREST RESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 



used on account of lack of market. The condition in 1898 was as 

 follows : 



1. In the state forests of European Russia, over a forest area of 

 237,500,000 acres, the annual growth was 13.6 cubic feet per acre, 

 of which only 40 per cent, or 5.1 cubic feet per acre could be actually 

 marketed and used. 



2. In the state forests of the Caucasus, with 13,250,000 acres of 

 forest, out of a possible yield of 38.4 cubic feet per acre, only 16 per 

 cent, or 6.2 cubic feet per acre, was actually used. 



3. In the state forests of western Siberia, with an area of 95,000,000 

 acres, out of a possible yield of 3.1 cubic feet per acre only 40 per 

 cent, or 1.3 cubic feet, was actually cut and used. 



More wood is used in other forests than in those owned by the 

 State, but these amount to only about one-third of the total forest 

 area. In all forests not under control of the Government the cutting 

 is heavier than in those owned by the State. In the following table 

 are given the cut per acre and the total cut in the different kinds of 

 forest: 



Annual cut in cubic feet per acre and total cut by ownership. 



Thus the annual cut in European Russia is about 7,000,000,000 

 cubic feet for the productive forest land (412,000,000 acres), or 17 

 cubic feet per acre. On the other hand, the total annual growth for 

 the same area is estimated at 12,711,000,000 cubic feet, or about 31 

 cubic feet per acre. In other words, the cutting in these forests is 

 a little more than one-half of what is produced each year. 



In the forests of Asiatic Russia the exploitation is practically 

 nil, hardly amounting to 1.3 cubic feet per acre. 



CONSUMPTION. 



If from the 7,000,000,000 cubic feet annually cut in the forests 

 of European Russia is deducted the annual export of 423,720,000 

 cubic feet, the remainder is a home consumption of 6,576,280,000 

 cubic feet. This, with a population of 104,000,000, gives a per 

 capita consumption of 63 cubic feet. Assuming that one-half of 

 the annual growth (12,711,000,000 cubic feet) is saw-log timber, 

 there is produced annually 6,355,500,000 cubic feet of such material. 

 With a home consumption of about 25 cubic feet of saw logs per 

 capita, the total would be 2,600,000,000 cubic feet, which would still 

 leave 3,755,500,000 cubic feet available for export. At present 

 the wood deficit in all European countries together amounts in logs 

 to about 1,412,000,000 cubic feet per annum. This deficit may 

 become three times as large, and still European Russia could appar- 

 ently furnish enough timber for the countries which depend on 

 importations for their supply. 



