182 FORESTRY IN LITHUANIA 



the possibility of making forest plantations. The difference 

 between them is, that the Leoshin plantations were called 

 for by necessities of the town, and have brought to it 

 a practical benefit by defending Odessa from sand carried 

 by the wind. Besides this, many capitalists of Odessa 

 were so carried away by this example that forest planting 

 was for some time fashionable ; they used to boast of it, 

 and planted trees on estates without any views as to the 

 income and economical significance of their planting 

 there was only one object in view, the so to say climatic 

 influence of these plantations on the neighbouring estates : 

 and of the climatic influence the inhabitants of Odessa are 

 strongly persuaded, because the summer heats and 

 neighbouring steppes frequently remind them of this. 



' Forests could counteract droughts, because their 

 influence on the winds in the steppes is very visible; roads 

 and ploughed fields under the influence of wind soon dry ; 

 but the drying proceeds much more slowly, not only if the 

 soil be defended by forests, but even if it be so by burian or 

 high grass. When we see thousands of desatins of ploughed 

 land loosened for several vershocks in depth, and very 

 rapidly drying under the influence of strong winds, then 

 we have a visible indication of what immense stores of 

 water the soil must have in order to satisfy on one side 

 the rapidity of this evaporation, and on the other side the 

 demands of the future vegetable life. The rapid move- 

 ment of the layers of atmosphere nearest the surface must 

 have great influence on the moisture of the soil. 



' There is not much wood in the governments of 

 Ekatherinoslav and Kherson, compared with other govern- 

 ments ; but for that the demands for forest materials are 

 very limited, and these are used very economically. Mr 

 Konoplin, talking of the wood trade in Prussia, held up as 

 an example the economy in the useof forest materials shown 

 by Prussians; but this economy in the governments of 

 Ekatherinoslav and Kherson is perhaps greater than that of 

 the Prussians : here you will not only not see any log or piece 

 of timber lying about, but even chips and bark remaining 



