AREA, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT, &c. 45 



' To all persons employed officially in the management of 

 the forests, from the director-in-chief to the assistant war- 

 ders and Sajeennicks, there are allotted indiscriminately 7^- 

 desatins of land, as supplying a means of ekeing out their 

 pay. There are thus allotted in ail 17,000 desatins. But 

 as these allottments are in the interiors of the forests, and 

 a great many of them are unproductive sands, requiring 

 much labour to make them productive, it follows, to the 

 disadvantage of the service, that the forest warder, receiv- 

 ing but little pay, must necessarily lose or waste, in the cul- 

 ture of these fields, much time which might be spent more 

 profitably in the forest or service. Taking into account 

 the topographical position, one would think that it would 

 be better to give them higher pay, and otherwise provide 

 for their comfort, than to make them engage in agriculture 

 for which the old soldier is very unfit, and cannot get 

 together the implements and other requisites. As it is 

 desired that these people should live within the precincts 

 of the forest, houses have been built for them within the 

 forest itself, but the condition of these houses in many 

 places is very unsatisfactory. In visiting different forest 

 administrations I have frequently seen half-ruined huts 

 which had been assigned to warders, and even to sub- 

 foresters. The houses of the foresters were seemingly in 

 better condition ; but many of them also were in need of 

 important repairs. 



' All these houses and huts are insured against fire, which 

 entails an expenditure of 19,000 roubles a year. In con- 

 templation of the possibility of all the Crown forests of 

 the kingdom being disposed of by sale, financial considera- 

 tions make the supreme administrations less careful than 

 would otherwise be the case about keeping all the houses 

 in thorough repair and good condition, 



' In the mining districts the forest service is more 

 laborious than it is on the other Crown forests, and on 

 this account the pay of foresters and sub-foresters in these 

 is somewhat higher. The difference is as follows : 



