Forest Conditions. 255 



vast plains, the former sloping northwestward from 

 the Ural mountains in the East and from the Caucasus 

 in the South, and the latter from the Altai, Lyan and 

 Yabloni mountains north to the Arctic Ocean. Both 

 sections exhibit in the southern ranges the effect of 

 continental climates, prairie and plains country: the 

 steppe; and in its northern ranges the effect of an 

 arctic climate, short hot summers and long, severe 

 winters: tundra and swamps. 



1. Forest Conditions and Ownership. 



Both the forest area and the ownership conditions 

 vary very much throughout the empire. Russian 

 statistics are very unreliable and are based on esti- 

 mates rather than enumerations, and vary from year 

 to year. 



So little is known of conditions in Asia, where Russia 

 occupies a territory three times as large as its European 

 possessions, that we can dispose of them briefly. 

 There exists a vast forested area, almost unknown 

 as to its extent and contents, or value. This area is 

 mainly located in Siberia, and although its extent 

 is uncertain, it is known to exceed 700 million acres, 

 but it is also known that its character is very variable, 

 and much of it is "taiga" or swamp forest, much of 

 it devastated, and much of it in precarious condition, 

 fires having run and still running over large portions, 

 destroying it to such an extent that in several of the 

 provinces within the forest belt, the question of wood 

 supplies is even now a troublesome one. The natives 

 are especially reckless, and devastation difficult to 

 control. The railroad has only increased the evils. 



