vi PREFACE. 



trade, afforded facilities which are considered by me 

 equivalent to a liberal pecuniary contribution. When 

 the proceeds of sales from it may suffice for the purpose, 

 they will be spent in the publication of a companion 

 Volume on the Ethnography and Present Condition of 

 the Finnish People, which is also ready for the press. 



Meanwhile the printing of the fourth of the series has 

 been begun. It relates to the Forests and Forestry of 

 Northern Russia, and embodies details of the exploitation 

 of forests by Jardinage and its effects. 



The object aimed at is to produce popular technical 

 treatises which may be useful to students of Forest 

 Science who have not access to the works quoted, by 

 stating views which have been advanced and have com- 

 manded attention, and by citing, or giving translations 

 of statements bearing upon these, in such a form as to 

 place readers in a position to work out for themselves a 

 solution of problems raised, should they be so disposed, 



I happened to spend the summer of 1879 in St. Peters- 

 burg, ministering in the British and American Chapel in 

 that city, while the pastor sought relaxation for a few 

 months at home. I was for years the minister of the con- 

 gregation worshipping there, and I had subsequently 

 repeatedly spent the summer among them in similar cir- 

 cumstances. I was at the time studying the Forestry of 

 Europe ; and I availed myself of opportunities afforded by 

 my journey thither through Norway, Sweden, and Finland, 

 by my stay in Russia, and by my return through Germany 

 and France, to collect information bearing upon the enqui- 

 ries in which I was engaged. On my return to Scotland I 



