ll(i SIIIEKIA. 



I 



Cll A I'TKIi VIII. 

 The forest wealth of Siberia. 



The area occupied by forest; the division of the forests into zones; the northern: zone of tall 

 conifers and its boundaries; the prevailing kinds of trees; the birch zone and its limits; the 

 importance of this zone for the agriculture and economy of the inhabitants; the zone of mountain 

 forests and its significance; causes serving as an obstach; to the introduction of forestry into Si- 

 beria; measures of the Government for the regulating of the forests of Western Siberia: 

 establishment of a Forest Administration; results attained in a short time: the position 

 of forest husbandry in Eastern Siberia; measures for ascertaining Crown forests in 



the Amour region. 



SIBERIA belongs to the number of countries abounding in forests. In Western Siberia alone- 

 the area of forests belonging to the Crown is estimated at 110,000;000 dessiatines. In 

 Eastern Siberia the area so occupied is considerably gi-ealer, but is there not exactly ascer- 

 tained. The Littoral Amour region is also rich in forest consisting of very various and 

 valuable species. 



The vast forest resources are however distributed unequally over the extensive terri- 

 tory of Siberia. The greatest expanse of forest is situated in its northern part, and it is al- 

 most entirely absent in the south. According to the density of its tree covering, the whole 

 of Siberia may be divided into three zones, of which each is distinguished by characteristic 

 features and situated in a direction from west to east. 



Northern tall tree Forests. 



The zone of the northern tall-stemmed woodlands stretches uninterruptedly through, 

 all Siberia from the Ural to the eastern shores of Kamchatka. This is the zone of the Sibe- 

 rian urmans ar.l taigas. To the north it borders on the tundras which is the limit of 

 the growth of the larger vegetation. The southern side of this forest zone is determined by 

 the line of the greatest development of corn raising and settled life. Beginning with the Tu- 

 rinsk district it passes through the northern part of that of Tobolsk and abruptly rises along, 

 the right bank of the Irtysh to the river Tara, embracing the northern parts of the districts 

 of Kainsk, Tomsk and Mariinsk. thence passes through the whole of Eastern Siberia almost 

 parallel to the main Siberian tract, and in the Transbaikal territory becomes confounded 

 with the southern zone of the mountain forests upon the Stanovoi or Yablonovi range. These 

 forest expanses are interrupted only by large marshes and impassable bogs wherefore many 

 parts of this immense northern taiga have an undisputed right to be called virgin soil, as so 

 far they have not been penetrated by the most fearless trapper. These localities, inaccessible- 

 to man, will yet long be subject to only the elemental forces of nature.. 



